Sine Qua Non
by quantumparadigm
Summary: After nearly three years, the war against the invading Leviathans has left the galaxy ravaged and their position desperate. Major Shepard has to find a new Drift partner after the death of her former co-pilot Ashley Williams, before testing out the Alliances' first Valkyrie class warship, modeled after the groundside Jaeger class fighter. Shenko.
1. Chapter 1

**Opening Author Notes: **This was a much bigger beast than I originally intended it to be, I sunk some serious hours into thinking about tech integration, jaegers, space jaegers, and how the foundation of the plot from Pacific Rim could be transferred over to Mass Effect and what that would do to canon. Sinvraal was an absolute treasure helping out with some of the jaeger tech that I didn't quite have my mind wrapped around when she signed. Working with her was amazing and the art she produced is just as wonderful as she is. Her DA idea is Sin-Vraal, and she's sinvraal on tumblr.

**May 17****th****, 2186  
**Arcturus Station had once been the seat of the System Alliance world parliament, housing the Prime Minister and not insignificant number of civilians and politicians. More than the enlisted military cared for, though most of them had the sense to keep such mutterings to themselves as said mutterings were one of the quickest methods to get an Admiral blasting down the offending FNG.

Three years into the war against the Leviathans had transformed the station drastically, and not just in terms of the personnel living aboard. One side was destroyed, flickering with kinetic barriers pressurizing the decks for construction. Some wounds were older than others. Others brand new from the latest volley.

Yet still it persevered. Like they did.

There was something beautiful about that if you looked hard enough. Too bad Major Riley Shepard didn't.

She might have, years, maybe even months ago. But the war had lasted too long and it was hard to look at a damaged station that had housed her childhood and see hope.

The economic collapse the volus had predicted in 2185 should the war continue for much longer loomed on the horizon, but no one seemed to care because three years into a war forced a lot of things into perspective, not the least of which was the sheer matter of _survival_. Didn't stop slimeball mercs and backwards corporations from trying to take advantage of the situation, but when their were Council sanctions in place forcing most livable colonies to take in a certain number of refugees, it was an uphill battle.

As well it should be.

Nothing would stop Riley from putting a bullet between the eyes of a merc intimidating refugees for a payoff in return for temporary safety.

"_Major, we've arrived. Docking in five_," Joker announced over the comm.

Riley pushed off her bunk in the temporary quarters granted her for what essentially amounted to a transportation mission. Something that undoubtedly wasted the technical genius behind the SR2, successor to the SR1 she'd known and loved for all of five days before it was unceremoniously destroyed on the day of the invasion.

Former XO and then CO Kaidan Alenko, once her head of marine detail. Promoted to command and inducted into the Spectres one year prior. She hadn't known him long, either, but she'd pegged him for the command path within two days, so she hadn't been surprised when Joker rattled off all the details she'd missed by declining command of the SR2 two years previously in favor of the Jaeger program.

She slipped her boots on and grabbed her bag from the corner of the room, eager to get off this boat and on her way to Jump Zero, just as she was sure Captain Simmonswas eager to have her ship back in the fight and not ferrying passengers around. If she'd been anyone else, Riley was certain the Captain would have declined the 'honor'.

Of course, being a Council Spectre had certain privileges, and when said Spectre needed to get somewhere fast, the nearest ship often found itself drafted.

She impatiently tapped her foot in the elevator, waiting for it to make the slow crawl from the crew deck to the CIC, missing the layout of old SR1 which had _stairs_.

Of course, Joker made sure she knew the penthouse Captains Quarters above the CIC were quite luxurious. Riley had simply shrugged. She'd grown up in small cabins with small beds, so sleeping in another small cabin didn't bother her, nor did the notion that she'd somehow missed out on something amazing by declining the command position.

As soon as the doors opened, Captain Simmons said, "Hate to kick you off my ship without so much as a handshake, Major, but we just got word of a relay activation in the Bahak system."

"Noted."

She picked up her pace as Simmons barked orders over the comm, readying her ship for departure as soon as Riley was through the airlock.

All in all, two minutes. Joker waved his hat at her over the back of his seat, other hand flying through his terminal as he performed pre-flight checks.

Admiral Anderson greeted her on the other side, rushing her to the end of the docking tube. The _Normandy_was gone thirty seconds later, speeding towards the relay.

"I take it the batarians weren't able to override the secondary command codes in the alpha relay?"

Anderson shook his head. "Won't accept Council help, either."

"Good way to get themselves killed."

"Good way to get us all killed." He jerked his head to the left. "Our transport is waiting for us."

She hefted her duffel onto her shoulder and glanced at Anderson. "No debriefing first?"

"Debriefing will take place at Jump Zero instead. Relay breach prevented Admiral Hackett from joining us. He'll connect via QEC once we reach Jump Zero." He input his codes into the docking terminal and they walked through the security checkpoint. "Leviathan should be taken care of by then."

"Hopefully. The batarians only have four Jaegers left in the fleet."

Anderson grunted.

Ten minutes after arriving at Arcturus, Riley was leaving Arcturus. Her shortest stay yet, though most tended to last less than a day. This one topped the cake as she hadn't even left the docks and entered the station proper.

The carrier they'd boarded was a relic from the First Contact War. No small wonder then that it had been repurposed for refugee evac and running transport. She followed Anderson to the conference room behind the CIC. One thing Riley loved about carriers and dreadnoughts was the size of the CIC's. Terminals and monitors and full of people doing their jobs, but with room to move around and breathe.

The Captain directed them through a door on the bridge that connected to the conference room given to them for the duration of their limited stay. Of course with the Leviathan attack, the relay was out of commission until all Alliance troops in the system deployed, so their stay had become more extended than she liked.

Once they were settled in with cups of coffee at the conference table, Anderson handed her a datapad with the specs for the _Crimson Tactical_. The reason she was here shipping out to Jump Zero instead of cooling her heels on the Citadel.

Anderson also handed her another datapad with the list of potential drift candidate partners. She left that one on the table in front of her untouched.

Four months after losing her previous partner still felt too soon, even though she'd agreed to be here and knew what it meant to be reassigned.

Probably the only reason she'd agreed to the Valkyrie program in the first place was to get back in the action. She wasn't the type to just sit back and let others take the lead. The words 'worst patient ever' were probably stamped in bold letters at the top of her file.

Besides, Williams would have kicked her ass if she'd stayed sedentary for too long, letting labcoats keep her grounded and out of the action.

She shifted in her chair, stretching one leg out in front of her.

The _Crimson Tactical_was a prototype Valkyrie class ship, modeled after the groundside Jaeger defense vehicles. The techs in the Alliance and STG had finally managed to figure out how to integrate FTL drive systems with Drift control mechanisms. Moments like this made Riley wish she had more engineering experience beyond being able to put together a gun in ten seconds flat. Thirty if she had to salvage for parts around her and use the fab unit on her 'tool.

She skimmed the technical parts. She'd learn more in the training session once she'd been matched to a candidate on the list, but it was good to know what things were called going in. People expected N's not make asses of themselves by asking stupid questions like _what's the head contraption called again?_

Hopefully the poor bastard who ended up being Drift compatible with her would be briefed on the Prothean vision mucking around in her brain. Williams had been fortunate enough to be there when said vision was implanted years ago on Eden Prime in what felt like another lifetime ago.

Before the war had started. Before she'd become a Spectre. Before the _Normandy SR1_had been destroyed.

Before she'd searched for and located the planet indicated in her visions. Given her own ship by the Alliance because any intel on the Leviathan breach was better than what they'd had. Which was nothing. No records from the Protheans about the Leviathans beyond what the beacon had put in her brain and the second one on Virmire had completed.

She shrugged and dropped the pad on the table. Leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

"I know you're not an engineer Riley, but it's not that hard to understand."

"Maybe you should have given it to me written in German."

She didn't open her eyes, but she didn't need to to know that Anderson shook his head at her. "Aren't you at least going to look at the candidate list?"

This time she _did_blink open one eye as she said, "I'll meet the unfortunate souls at Jump Zero in less than twenty minutes."

"Plenty of time to read up on them, maybe get an idea of their personality and whether or not they'll Drift with you right."

She shrugged. "Psych evals only go so far. Plus they're dry as hell."

"Yours isn't dry as hell."

"Most people don't get the luxury of editing their own tagline."

Anderson reached across the table and picked up the datapad listing all the potential candidates. "One of our former crew is on the list. Transferred into the Valkyrie program two months ago. Already completed the training so he's not completely green. Same goes for about half of the other candidates."

She leaned forward in her seat, resting her chin in her hands. "Yeah?"

"Mmm," Anderson nodded, "Major Alenko."

"Kaidan? No way."

That genuinely surprised her. Of all the things she'd heard about him from Joker, she wouldn't have expected to find him on Jump Zero. Though she knew plenty of people who'd probably say the same thing about _her_so she wasn't exactly quick to judge.

He'd worked really well with her on Eden Prime. Granted, Eden Prime had been a routine pick up mission, completely by the book until the science teams started relocating the Prothean beacon from the dig site to the LZ. That's when the shouting started. One of the scientists triggered a security field and Kaidan got caught in its pull.

Riley simply reacted, like she always did, without much thought for her own safety.

By all accounts, the dressing down Alenko had given the scientists once the beacon was safely aboard the _Normandy _for their lax protocol standards had been a _sight_and she was sorry she'd missed it. She loved a good dressing down, particularly when someone under her command executed it and Alenko had appeared so damned _calm_on that mission she almost wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it for herself secondhand through the Drift. Of course, when the ship's doctor demanded your presence in the med-bay, refusing wasn't exactly an option.

The only thing she remembered clearly right after the beacon incident was staring into Alenko's eyes as he propped her up in front of him, trying to figure out what in the hell he was saying even though he was speaking English. His brow had wrinkled in increasing worry as she continued to stare at him.

Even the words that came out of her mouth had sounded like gibberish.

"I think Hackett asked him to join. He provided some engineering insight into the two pilot drive system for FTL."

"Sounds like the second human Spectre is showing me up," she grinned. "Better cross him off the list, no way we can be Drift compatible if he's stealing my intellectual thunder."

Anderson arched an eyebrow and continued as if she hadn't spoken. "If he's not Drift compatible with you, he'll be leading the next Valkyrie which should be ready for action in less than a week, depending on how your test ride goes."

"So I get first dibs on all the pilots?"

"Yeah, but maybe you shouldn't say that by way of greeting."

"Kill joy."

"I'm gonna go see just how much longer we have to wait." Anderson rose from his chair and she halfheartedly saluted him as he exited the conference room, tossing the datapad into her lap.


	2. Chapter 2

Kaidan supposed his inevitable return to Jump Zero should have come sooner than his mid-thirties, and for that he was probably fortunate, but after two months aboard the station that had haunted his nightmares well into his twenties he still felt like a ghost walking the hallways of his youth.

Even though the station was fairly decent in size, it felt smaller. Probably because the last time he'd been here, he'd been younger and full of anger.

At the same time it felt bigger. Probably because the last time he'd been here, he'd been confined within these walls and unable to leave.

Until the day he snapped and made that choice possible for everyone.

He still hadn't returned to _that_part of the station. Wasn't sure if he wanted to. He certainly didn't _need_to. Even though the purpose of most rooms had changed, as the purpose of this station had changed, he still knew the old layout as if it was scratched onto the back of his hands. Burned onto the inside of his eyelids.

He continued walking towards the docking bay to meet Admiral Anderson and Major Shepard, an hour later than originally planned. Word had already come back through comm relay system that the Leviathan had been neutralized by three batarian Jaegers groundside after Alliance forces pushed it towards the planet to prevent it from breaching the network further.

Major Butler fell in step next to him, and he nodded at her. "Major."

"Cut the crap, Alenko, we're not on duty."

He arched an eyebrow and said, "We're on our way to greet an Admiral and a Council Spectre."

"You're a Council Spectre."

He didn't really have anything to say to that. Butler didn't seem to mind and they walked the rest of the way in silence, heading up the line as the carrier transporting Shepard and Anderson pulled in and the docking arm extended outwards, making the seal.

"Don't forget to shout 'ten hut!' when you salute," Butler whispered. When he didn't respond, she muttered something about him being stiff. Not loud enough for him to come back with a retort, though he did glance at her meaningfully.

Good thing he wasn't the one seeking a Drift compatible partner, 'cause there was no way in _hell_they'd have gotten on well. Though from his brief interaction with Shepard, he wasn't quite sure how the Major got on the list, either. Of course, one mission didn't say everything there was to say about a person. Not to mention that Williams and Shepard had been Drift compatible with an above average compatibility rating. Not the highest in the Alliance, but high enough.

He eyed Butler sideways as she straightened her uniform, fussing over details even he couldn't see. Perhaps there was a baseline predicted minimum and she only just made the cut. It'd make sense to test everyone who met a certain threshold, even if they were… colorful.

The docking bay doors hissed open and he snapped his attention back up just as Anderson stepped through, followed quickly by Shepard.

Alenko frowned as the two approached them in line, and quickly wiped the frown off his face when he caught Shepard frowning back.

Of course, her return frown had only served to accentuate why _he'd_frowned in the first place. Last time he'd met her, she'd only sported the scar crossing through left eye. Nasty, sure, but old news. Jenkins had pried within his hearing range, and she'd simply told him it was from Akuze. Enough to get most marines to shut up, but apparently not Jenkins because the kid had only asked more questions until Alenko interfered and gave him a task to shut him up. Shepard had smiled gratefully before beating a hasty retreat.

Now she had another, fresher one, decorating the corner of her lips. Nastier than his own relic from a turian fist meeting his face. No, hers looked more as if her face had met something and met it _hard_.

"Good to see you again, Major," she said. He accepted her proffered hand and shook it.

"Likewise, Major."

Butler rolled her eyes next to them, though when Shepard shook her hand, she followed protocol as well. He'd probably get an earful later about him setting the standard and _why couldn't it have been casual?_

What he didn't expect was for Shepard to seek him out after all the pleasantries were over and done with. "To hear Joker tell it, you're the alpha to my omega."

"Pardon, ma'am?"

She waved him off and started walking, gesturing for him to follow. "Just Shepard. Or Riley."

After a moment of silence, he said, "Pardon, Riley?"

"Where I blow things up and make a big noise, you apparently slide in under the radar."

"He would tell it like that."

She shrugged. "I'm starving, what about you? Too many ship transfers with not enough food in the past seven hours."

"I was gonna head to the mess for some food after the greeting party was over."

She eyed him sideways. "Sorry. I'll just chuck my bag in my room, then we can run."

It was his turn to shrug. He was hungry, sure, but probably not as hungry as she was. An underfed and tired biotic was no laughing matter.

"Speaking of, I think I got us lost."

Kaidan chuckled. "What's your room?"

She handed him the datapad with her bunk quarters and the chuckle died in this throat. They weren't his quarters from another lifetime ago, but they were across from his old room. Riley detected the shift in his mood but had the grace to not pry, for which he was grateful.

"It's this way," he pointed towards a corridor they were approaching.

"I could just meet you in the mess," she said once they'd reached the junction.

He shrugged again. "Nah, it's alright."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

She wasn't lying. When they got to her room, she simply hucked her bag through the door onto the bed and turned on her heel. Didn't even switch on the lights to get a good look at the room she was staying in. Best of all, she didn't ask questions. Though he probably wouldn't have minded explaining the basics. Of course, she probably already _knew_the basics since she was a biotic herself, but had the benefit of being three years younger. Just enough of an age difference that when she displayed biotic potential, BAaT had already been shut down.

She would have known about BAaT, though, and could put two and two together.

They spent the first twenty minutes in the mess in complete silence, both with equally heaping plates of food and neither ashamed about the size of their appetites. Though Kaidan would have killed for a decent steak sandwich, Alliance food in the middle of the war was about as good as it got. Marines learned to eat what was there without too much question.

Though every FNG knew to steer clear of the eggs.

Those that didn't deserved the rude wake up call they got. Or were victims of a cruel prank.

"I heard Udina made a big fuss about your ceremony."

Kaidan looked up from his plate, took a bite out of his roll, and nodded. "The whole nine yards."

Shepard grimaced. He hadn't been present for hers, but knew the basics of the circumstances surrounding her induction.

"That's probably partially my fault. I hit the dirt with Nihlus the day after."

"How is Nihlus?"

"On Palaven right now, I think."

"The turians still holding out?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Turian jaegers are pretty fucking frightening actually."

"Really?" she nodded. "I'd have thought the krogan would have made truly terrifying jaegers."

"Not enough funding. The ones they do have are pretty frightening in appearance, but more about pounding the shit out of the Leviathans that touch dirt than anything else. Did you know they're actively breeding thresher maws on Tuchanka now?"

"That… doesn't surprise me."

"Big giant beastie against another big giant beastie."

He grinned. "So what do turian jaegers have that make them so frightening?"

"Thanix cannons."

His hand stopped halfway to his mouth, roll forgotten. "No shit?"

She simply nodded around a mouthful of food.

"Damn."

Before Shepard could reply, Major Butler joined them. "Shit, I forgot two biotics could eat enough to serve a whole platoon."

Both of them stared at the newcomer as she sat down, gawking at their plates.

"Damn what?" Butler asked despite the awkward silence that had settled over the table.

"Turian Jaeger design," Shepard answered. "Thanix cannons."

"Valkyries have got the Thannix cannons," Butler said. "You get Alenko to relax his shit?"

"Didn't know his shit needed relaxing."

"Don't tell me you two are sitting over here 'Majoring' each other."

Shepard's lips twitched in a smile and half a second later, Kaidan caught up to the joke. "My degree is in linguistics, Major."

Butler barked a laugh.

Shepard changed the subject and asked, "You've served on a Jaeger before, right?"

"_Bravo Firefly_."

"Ah," Shepard nodded.

"Yeah, destroyed. Partner quit after that. Then I heard about the Valkyrie program and requested a transfer."

"To broken Jaegers," Shepard raised her glass and he lifted his up as well.

Perhaps he'd misread Butler after all. After the initial awkward introduction, she and Shepard seemed to find common ground. Just another reason to add to the already big list of reasons for why he wasn't a psychologist and didn't make these kinds of decisions.

His mother had told him he could be too judgmental. Years later and he was still learning that she was right.

"I'll toast to that," Butler replied.


	3. Chapter 3

**May 19****th****, 2186  
**Riley examined the datapad once more, now amended with notes she'd made the night before after talking to all of the candidates. Despite Anderson's belief that she was too dismissive of the potential Drift candidates, she had made an effort to get to know all of them.

Some were better suited than others, and the Drift Compatibility tests would either prove or disprove her theories, but she wasn't new to the game and already had a good inkling.

One of the candidates she'd already dismissed, much to Anderson's displeasure. Lieutenant-Commander Spencer Shelton had looked good on paper, but when she'd caught up to him late last night, he'd practically tripped over himself, gushing over her accomplishments in the military while simultaneously trying to make himself stand out above the crowd. He'd insinuated on more than one occasion that he 'felt it' and thought they'd make great partners because he'd served on the now decommissioned _Coyote Willow_.

So while Anderson disapproved of her dismissing a candidate before the tests even started, he didn't doubt her judgment and told her he'd make Shelton disappear.

Riley was grateful.

"Who's first?"

"Staff-Lieutenant Danielle Hughes."

Her notes on the young staff-lieutenant were sparse yet favorable. "Best of four?"

Anderson nodded.

"I'll get ready."

She shoved away from the table pushed against the wall so a small gym mat could be brought in for the tests and headed for the door in the back leading to a smaller office temporarily repurposed as a changing room.

When she came back out, Lieutenant Hughes was already standing on the mat, waiting for her, thin quarterstaff in hand.

It only took two 'kills' before Riley dismissed her. The moves were there, but the coordination wasn't and Riley took her down. Too easy and the energy was lacking. Riley didn't need four wins to know she and Hughes didn't have Drift Compatibility.

Of course, the combat test wasn't the _only_test, but it was the one Riley paid the most attention to because if the combat was out of sync, coordinated fighting in a Jaeger would be next to impossible.

Hughes left looking for all the world like a kicked puppy, but not totally surprised about being a kick puppy.

"Major, your appointment is coming up."

Kaidan craned his head to peer over his shoulder at the young corporal standing in the doorway of the lab.

"Admiral Anderson sent me to retrieve you, sir."

He returned his attention back to the console when the panel shifted dangerously in his grasp. "Is it noon already?"

"No, sir. But Major Shepard is moving through the list faster than anticipated."

"Huh- _shit_!"

He stared at the sparking wire and muttered another curse as the whole board went dead. That circuit was now fried.

"Alright," he sighed as he stood up and wiped his brow. "Lead the way."

"The compatibility test is combat, sir."

"Better to fight in your uniform than piss of a Spectre. Let's go, Corporal."

"Aye, sir," he replied, though he disapproving glint in his eyes indicated an express desire to voice his opinion. Kaidan let it slide.

He'd have to finish his work here later. A quick glance at the clock on his way out revealed that it was only 10:30. Shepard really was moving through the candidates fast.

All the more reason to not take the time to change out of his uniform into his gym clothes. If she was burning through the list, she probably wasn't too happy about it. He certainly wouldn't be if he were in her position.

When they arrived in the testing room five minutes later, his suspicions were proven correct. The corners of Shepard's mouth were pinched inwards as she stood in quiet discussion with Anderson. Kaidan dismissed the Corporal and removed his harness, setting it on the table, followed quickly by his sidearm, omni-tool, and various gadgets sequestered in his pockets. Which included, much to his amusement if no one else's, a miniature Jaeger model.

After gleaning a few words from their conversation he decided it was none of his business and backed off to the mat to wait.

When Shepard spun around to face him, she seemed marginally less pissed off. "What's with the get up?"

He shrugged. "It's not noon. I was down in the labs when Corporal Kensington arrived."

"Oh," she tossed him a quarterstaff without warning. Instead of reaching out and fumbling with his hands, he captured it in a pull and let it float into his fingers. Much more graceful, but only barely.

Shepard grunted and grabbed her own quarterstaff.

Major Kaidan Alenko, the second human Spectre, sparring in his uniform because he hadn't wanted to piss her off even more after rightly assuming that moving through the candidate list faster than anticipated _would_piss her off, was the first person to pin her to the ground in a kill maneuver.

To top it off, he'd done it in five moves.

The quarterstaff at her throat exerted just enough pressure to make its presence known. Amber eyes stared down at her from above. He hadn't even broken a sweat.

"One - zero." With that he removed the quarterstaff from her neck and helped her up.

She didn't bother waiting for the countdown before attacking as soon as she was back on her feet, knocking his legs out from under him - earning a surprised yelp that made her smile. She jumped as he attempted to sweep her off her feet, his foot sailing through air instead of connecting with her shins, and brought the quarterstaff down on his chest with enough force to keep him in place.

He breathed hard as she stared down at him. One bead of sweat newly evident on his brow. She grinned. "One - one."

Kaidan didn't even let her help him up. His quarterstaff cracked against the side of her ribs and she hissed as he rolled over when the pressure on his chest relented. She barely managed to parry his incoming blow, reluctantly giving ground under his brutal attack. The air filled with the harsh clack of wood on wood, the whistling of barely dodged hits as the other managed to duck or bend out of the way just enough.

Kaidan used that counterbalancing against her as she leaned back, the staff rushing through the air inches above her face, by throwing her biotically with his free hand.

She hit the wall hard, too shocked to notice the harsh pain indicative of a bruise already forming between her shoulder blades.

"Two - one," he shouted from across the room.

Riley didn't bother rising from her knee, instead amassing energy around herself and _pulling_Kaidan off his feet then quickly slamming him onto the mat. Definitely harder than necessary but _fuck_his throw had _hurt_.

More than that, it had been completely unexpected. None of the other biotic candidates had even thought to attack her biotically when things weren't going in their favor.

She was on her feet and running towards him before he had a chance to completely rise.

If she was actually looking to kill him, she would have spun and roundhouse kicked him, snapping his neck. Instead, she swung her staff around, intending to put him off balance, and was surprised when he managed to bring his staff up and halt her attack.

Not so surprised that she didn't headbutt him.

He flew backwards but managed to stay on his feet.

She was breathing hard and so was he, both covered in sweat, eyes radiating challenge. That small little detail made her smile as she brought her quarterstaff up, landing against his neck. Hard enough to sting, not hard enough to actually break skin.

Though he'd probably have a bruise there come morning.

"Two - two."

Kaidan bit back a curse as Riley's staff connected with his neck. Her hair plastered to her forehead, chest heaving as she breathed hard, but steadily.

Her eyes dark pools of challenge and fury and something else that made him want to swallow and rub the back of his neck.

"Two - two."

The staff fell away. He could already feel the red welt it left behind, though he didn't give her the satisfaction of rubbing it.

"It's done," she turned to look at Anderson. "It's done."

"You sure, Shepard? First to four wins."

"I don't need four." She looked back at him. "You felt it too, right?"

This time he did clear his throat, and nodded.

So _that_was Drift Compatibility.

He'd certainly felt the focus that came with knowing you were fighting an N7 therefore the playing field was already uneven along with the thrill of realizing he was fighting an N7 and holding his ground, followed by the excitement that was just _fighting_and losing himself in the moment, allowing himself to react without thinking. Outside of the requisite 'not actually trying to kill her' mantra.

He'd absolutely felt the energy in the room kick up the moment his staff met hers the first time and she'd been less than half a meter from his face and had _grinned_. He'd grinned _back_.

Anderson made a note on his datapad. "He did have the best movement out of all of them. Plus," Anderson smirked, "he was the only one to hand your ass to you on a silver platter."

Kaidan sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, careful of the blooming welt, as he followed Riley across the room to the table and retrieved his items. He couldn't have been the only person, could he? Butler was an N2. If anyone was capable of kicking Riley's ass it should have been _her_.

Then again, if he remembered correctly, Butler's time-slot had taken place in the morning. Only one candidate was up for testing after him.

Anderson poked his head into the hall, presumably relaying information to Corporal Kensington that the final candidate would be unnecessary.

"You know you're the only biotic who thought of hitting me with a throw?"

He slipped his head the rest of the way through his harness and found Riley standing right next to him, leaning against the table. "Really?"

She shrugged. "No one else did."

"It wasn't strictly written in the rules."

"I never fight by the rules anyway."

He shook his head in agreement and replied, "Me neither."


	4. Chapter 4

**May 20****th****, 2186  
**Riley re-examined her back in the mirror. She had a sucker of a bruise forming between her shoulders where she'd slammed into the wall, the skin tender and angry looking. In a few days it'd be in full bloom with the purples and yellows without the tender application of medi-gel to hasten recovery.

All attempts to apply said medi-gel had resulted in many tubes thrown to the floor and a trail of gel slipping down her back. But not on her bruise.

She frowned, contemplating the merits of leaning against the wall and squeezing an entire tube all over her back. Definitely wasteful, but not any more than the catastrophe in her bathroom with the added potential of actually being _effective_. Her frown deepened when the door chime sounded.

She grabbed her towel and wrapped it around herself as she walked towards the entrance.

To say Kaidan Alenko was surprised when she bade him come in instead of making him cool his heels in the hall was an understatement. He followed her to the small bathroom at her insistence, arching an eyebrow at the tubes of medi-gel scattered across the floor. She stuffed another in his hands, turned around, and dropped the towel down far enough to reveal the bruise in its entirety. "You bruise it, you fix it."

After a moment, warm, callous fingers gently slid across her skin and she hissed, biting her bottom lip from the discomfort, minimized as it was by his exceedingly gentle touch - something she remembered from Eden Prime three years previously when he'd tried to make her understand what he was saying after the beacons message had been crammed into her brain, temporarily short-circuiting her language centers from the overload of raw data.

"Didn't realize I threw you that hard," he murmured as he applied a second layer.

"Doesn't help that I bruise easily."

"If it helps, you left a sucker of a welt on my neck."

She shrugged, and bit back a curse when her shoulder rolled _in_to his fingers. The medi-gel couldn't work fast enough.

"All done," he stepped away from her and she turned around. "Prognosis looks promising."

She smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

Kaidan wasn't wrong. Despite the protection his collar offered, thin as it was, the welt on his neck looked vicious. Though it was a dull sort of vicious, as he undoubtedly had not encountered the same problem as she had in self medicating. She exited the bathroom, aware the Kaidan had stayed behind and shut the door after her departure, correctly assuming that she'd be changing now because waltzing through Jump Zero in a towel had a probability factor of less than half a percent.

She rapped on the door when she was dressed and slipped past him as he exited to brush her hair and apply eyeliner.

Her fingers brushed against her lipstick and lingered there for a few seconds before she shut the lid. The lipstick had a way of accentuating the scars on her lips, and she didn't like drawing any more attention to their existence than was necessary.

Her face couldn't seem to catch a break.

Of course she could go in for reconstructive surgery to get rid of the scars, but honestly she didn't really care that they were on her face. She just didn't like the questions.

Kaidan was waiting for her by the door.

"You ready to become best friends?" she asked and he frowned, ever so slightly.

Barely noticeable, in fact. If she hadn't been looking for it due to her own unsettled nerves on the subject, coupled with a ball of unease sitting in the pit of her stomach because despite having come all this way and agreeing to the Valkyrie program and everything that entailed, she wasn't sure if she was entirely ready for a new Drift partner.

She wasn't sure if she was ready to meet Williams in the Drift as she so often saw her in her dreams.

"Are you?" he asked.

Aside from the psychologist, he was the first person to ask her that. Unlike the psychologist, his concern seemed genuine.

"We're going to be late."

"We're going to answer the question, Riley."

He called her on her bullshit. She knew it. Didn't stop her from not liking it, but goddamn he was right and right now she found it so infuriating.

He was also blocking the door. If she pushed the subject, he'd probably move, sure, but he deserved an answer as it had the potential to affect him the most.

"Okay," she held up her hands and backed away from the door.

She paced the short distance of the room before settling on the bed, keenly aware that Kaidan was patiently waiting for an answer, that every minute she didn't say anything made them later for their first connection in the Drift to assess the strength of the Compatibility.

Not to mention after that, if everything went smoothly, they'd then take the _Crimson Tactical _out for its first official flight and stress test the system with the two of them aboard, ensuring what theories and equations were already 99% certain about but there was still that possibility for human error.

Finally she looked up at him. His eyes were full of concern and that made it almost harder for her say, "No. Maybe. Shit, I don't know."

Before she could say anything else, he crossed the distance and sat down next to her.

She breathed out. "Williams." Another breath. "Williams died while we were still connected. I _felt_her die and I'm not sure I could do that again."

His hand found hers and squeezed in reassurance. "You don't have to."

"You were there when they said 'space Jaeger', right?"

Kaidan chuckled and let her subject change pass. "Yeah, I was there. Of course, I was never a Jaeger pilot, but I could still see the appeal."

"Why weren't you a Jaeger pilot?"

"They definitely wanted me to be, but the cards just didn't fall that way. Besides, I got the command you turned down."

"To be a Jaeger pilot."

He ignored her interruption and continued. "Well, then it was executive officer, but the Captain transferred out to a dreadnought after the battle at Terra Nova."

"We lost five cruisers that day."

"Even more people."

Riley sighed. "I can do this."

He looked at her, forcing her to look back through sheer will power. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

With the right Drift partner, she could. Looking into Kaidan's eyes, she was sure she had the right Drift partner. Steadfast, rock solid, already reading between the lines of what she said and didn't say to discern what she really meant.

Plus the beacon thing probably wouldn't freak him out too bad since he was there when the data was unceremoniously dumped into her head.

He didn't let go of her hand until they reached her door, which was all too soon and yet felt like a lifetime, and Riley wasn't entirely sure what to make of the new input of data, suddenly keenly aware of the disbanding of the frat regs for Jaeger pilots, and by extension, Valkyrie pilots. Because couples in the Drift had some of the highest compatibility ratings, though none had managed to achieve 100% compatibility. Throwing two people with a mutual attraction together in the Drift was bound to cement lasting bonds.

After all, the asari likened it to their mating process.

Riley shoved the thoughts away to deal with later.

The lower half of Jump Zero had been completely converted for the Valkyrie Program, more reminiscent of the shatterdomes found on earth and other defensive positions in the galaxy she'd toured for refugee evac. Kaidan pointed out the differences, his voice occasionally nostalgic, but most often tinged with an undercurrent of bitterness that made her grateful for her late secondary eezo exposure. A few years earlier, and she'd probably have joined him at BAaT and suffered through a similarly tortured fate.

Of course, it never would have happened a few years earlier as her father had been very strict about letting her go groundside with the science teams before she was sixteen.

They finally reached the lab at the bottom of the hollowed out space, the guts of more Valkyries on display amidst giant engineering platforms, with engineers hard at work. STG, Cerberus, and Alliance personnel wandering the floors.

A Drift station, similar to the conn pod but without the physical connections where they'd connect to the limbs of the Jaeger, had been set up in the middle of the room. Left and right hemisphere separation, though from having read the many tech guides about the Valkyries, the left-right designations and loads was more about power distribution and weapons control than limb movement. The connection inside the Valkyrie would be more about the integration of their minds to control the vessel rather than actually fight. Body movements used to adjust thruster pods and target locks.

There'd been a lot of technical babble that had flown in one ear and out the other, but the gist Riley had gathered was that it _worked_and worked similarly to the jaeger.

Anderson wasn't amused at their tardiness, though he said nothing for which Riley was grateful.

"Shepard, Alenko, this is Operative Miranda Lawson, head of the research division at Cerberus and the brain behind the Valkyrie project."

"You designed the original Drift mechanism," Riley said as she shook Miranda's hand.

"I did, though it was unfortunate I was not there for the first test of the tech. Though I hear it's very fortunate that you were."

Riley shrugged. "The tech operating the board was shouting something about it overloading a single human brain, I figured two would even the load."

"You figured correctly. If only the Alliance board behind the project had listened to my initial suggestion to await further testing, that predicament might never have happened." Miranda started walking towards the central platform in the middle of the lab, and she and Alenko followed. "Of course, you're the first and only human to operate a Jaeger solo. It is feasible, though certainly not safe nor recommended, that you could fly the _Crimson Tactical_by yourself, so long as a much decreased life expectancy or the possibility of brain hemorrhaging and aneurysm don't bother you."

Riley heaved herself onto the platform and moved towards the right side. There was no body to control, and the functionality was different enough that it might not matter, but that wasn't enough to convince Riley that there wouldn't be adverse effects to using the left side.

"I'm going to take the right, if that's alright with you."

Alenko nodded, following her up, and moved towards the left.

"_Vulcan Fury's_ left arm was destroyed pre-Jaeger death, correct?"

Riley froze. "Yes."

The bite in her answer rolled off Miranda like marbles on glass as the operative moved towards the console and started readying the gear. It shouldn't have surprised her the Operative Lawson had done her homework concerning her history, yet it did.

Instead of the contraption found in the conn pod of jaegers that the pilots stood in as they operated the jaeger, there were two seats. The valkyries sported similar control mechanisms, but the Drift compatibility test didn't require the entire setup. Not when they would be taking the _Crimson Tactical_ out for a test flight later this after, provided everything here went smoothly and Riley hadn't completely failed in choosing a partner.

The area in front of the seats was clear. According to the schematics she read, and simple experience from having served ship-side, consoles would occupy that clear space with data read outs, weapons, engines, and combat LIDAR.

She sat down in the seat next to Alenko.

The best thing about the Valkyries, in Riley's opinion, was the agility and maneuverability. Not to mention some of the crazier stunts the ships could pull without a crew on deck to worry about. Just two pilots, suited up and strapped in. Valkyries outclassed frigates in warfare strategy and tactics by a factor of ten.

She almost wished they were doing the initial Drift calibration in the ship itself and not just in a lab though with the risks associated with a new warship and the potential of chasing the RABIT, she understood the reasoning.

The metal brace settled around her head, cold against the skin of her forehead, clamping in place.

"Prepare for neural handshake," Miranda said from the control console in front of the platform. Riley steeled herself as the countdown began, counting backwards from ten.

She turned to Kaidan just as the VI countdown reached zero and said, "Don't latch on."


	5. Chapter 5

_- An angry turian towered above him, eyes seething hatred and contempt and then talons connected with his face and blood filled his vision as Kaidan lost control and flew at the mercenary, unworthy of the position the Alliance had given him._

_- "Her brain is overloading, there's too much data!"_

"_Shut it down!"_

"_The system's not responding, there's a problem with the neural block!"_

_Riley reacted, as she often did, without thinking. Pieces of tech lying around and no one paying her any mind as she grabbed what she needed, working fast because judging from the blood running out Ash' nose she didn't have a lot of time. The engineers became aware too late of her intended plan, and by the time they could have stopped her she was already in._

_- "What do you mean there's a special _school?_You expect me to let government men just take my child?"_

"_It's a program for children like him."_

"_No."_

"_Martha -"_

"No!"

"_We're not sending him away, we're saving his _life_. We don't know what's going to happen to him and this program is the best chance he has at making it to adulthood."_

"Neural bridge calibrating."

_- Riley coughed, the sound distant and distorted through air that felt thick in her lungs. Dust. She was breathing _dust_._

_Her father shouted for her in the distance._

_He'd never let her go groundside again. Too risky. Too many chances that things could go wrong and she'd be injured. _

_He was right._

_- "Commander, can you hear me?" He grasped her face but she just stared back at him, eyes rolling in her head as he propped her up._

"_Shepard!" She jerked her eyes towards him and the worry lessened in his gut before intensifying sharply as her brow furrowed and she attempted to speak but the words came out all wrong and twisted. _

_The readings on his 'tool were all over the place. Unusual brain activity, weird spikes, erratic rhythms._

"_Shepard, I need to know if you can understand what I'm saying."_

_Her hand clutched at his, urgent. "Commmeeng."_

_- Shepard heaved herself onto the landing pad, her leg dragging behind her. She couldn't tell if her left eye was swollen shut or gone, just that she was no longer receiving visual input and the blood had stopped running down her face. She'd long since stopped feeling pain, only able to focus on surviving one meter at a time until she made it to the coordinates the rescue team had transmitted to her platoon what felt like weeks ago._

_Too late. _

_It was too late._

_The ground shook beneath her feet and she steeled herself against the oncoming attack. Just a pistol with a nearly depleted ammo block and no replacement, but it was better than her fists and certainly better than her leg. _

_She remained alert for hours, the gun wavering before her but never falling. Her good eye scanning the horizon as she waited but no one else from her unit made it._

"Neural bridge… calibrated. The connection is strong."

_- The knife flashed in his eyes as Vyrnnus pinned him to the ground. All for standing up for what was right and he'd do it again._

_Military grade, sharp. It pressed against his throat and the merc sneered down at him, blood dripping from his mandible where Kaidan had punched him._

_He lost it. A massive biotic corona, bigger than he'd ever made, and he _kicked_and the merc flew across the room. The snap audible through the blood rushing in his ears, piercing the dead silence of the cafeteria._

_Rahna refused to look at him and he turned away._

_- Amber eyes stared at her, hands worriedly clutching her face, but she just couldn't understand what he was _saying_._

_She tried to reassure him that she was alright but his expression tightened and his eyes widened and she clutched his hand as he spoke again, the sounds all wrong and jumbled in her brain._

_They were _coming_and she had to tell him but she couldn't figure out _how!_Couldn't seem to form the words even though she knew the shape of them and how it felt to say them._

_His hand ran through her hair._

_- "This is an L2 implant," the doctor held the device up and Kaidan examined it closely. He blotted his hands on the hospital gown, nervous as he looked at the implant._

_Two of his friends had already gone in for the surgery. One of them hadn't come back and no one would say why, but he could guess. _

"_You don't need to worry about anything."_

_- Riley screamed as the left arm of the _Vulcan Fury _was obliterated, white hot pain searing her system and frying the circuitry in her suit. Her vision wavered. She threw up._

_Williams shouted her name over and over again, fending off the attack as two Leviathans double teamed their one jaeger. _

"Pilot out of alignment!"

"Riley is de-syncing."

Miranda Lawson cursed, heels clicking across the floor as she ran to the station. "Terminate the connection."

"We can't, there's a problem with the neural block, her connection is too strong!"

_- "Riley, I need you to get your shit together, these sons of bitches are coming at us _hard_!"_

_Riley pulled herself up and wiped her chin with her good hand, the pain still hot and she couldn't move her left arm even though she could _see_that it was still there. Her brain told her it wasn't and the discrepancy almost made her vomit again. _

"_Good, we need to swing around beastie one to get the kill."_

_Riley nodded and compartmentalized, shoving the discrepancy into a box to deal with later. _

_The first beastie went down as Williams sliced it open. Riley tucked her shoulder low, simultaneously aware of the dead weight of her own arm and the input in her brain that told her the left arm was gone, and slammed into the second beastie, once again working in concert with Williams in the Drift. Coordinating their movements as Williams carried the brunt of the offensive strategy._

"We're still losing her!"

"Riley, listen to me," Kaidan twisted in his seat as much as the contraption would allow and reached out for her hand.

_- His hand ran through her hair. "Stay with me, Shepard."_

_- The Leviathan tore through the armored hull of the Jaeger, claws scratching the surface until it punctured through. _

_The last thought that echoed through the Drift from Ashley was surprise. Too quick to remember to be afraid._

"Riley, stay with me."

_- Kaidan stood next to her in the darkened husk of the _Vulcan Fury_. Riley shuddered in the harness while Williams was lifeless in hers. Mangled and broken. The sight made him sick but he had to focus lest he lose himself, too._

"_You can do this, Riley," she whispered. _

_He knelt in front of her, but her eyes stared past him. _

"_Get up." _

_Cheeks wet with tears, lips pale. Eyes red. Blood flowed freely out of her nose and her right arm twitched._

"_Get up!"_

_The jaeger came to life around her and Riley heaved upwards, her movements disjointed at first, but she was _moving _and so was the Jaeger. She transferred the holographic control pad to her right hand._

"Riley!" Kaidan pulled on her hands, squeezing her fingers and she blinked, eyes focusing on him.

"Neural bridge stabilizing."

"Look at me," he pleaded and she did. Dark eyes struggling to focus on his but they did. "I've got you."

"Right hemisphere… calibrated," the VI announced.

She was breathing hard, ragged air rushing through her lips, and he became aware that he'd been holding his. Their memories still whispering in the back of his mind, tantalizing, but he didn't latch on. Didn't chase the RABIT even though certain memories pulled at him. Glimpses of their lives mixing together because the Drift was intensity and interconnectedness multiplied by a thousand.

Riley blinked. "I know," she replied when she opened her eyes.

And she _did_. He could feel it and see it and hear it and it was so foreign to feel such _trust_in himself pouring from another person, but there it was.

"You're kind of foolhardy," Kaidan said and Riley smiled weakly. "Is it like that every time?"

"First time is the most intense. A lot of foreign memories. But yeah, each time you have to fight the urge to chase the RABIT."

He could feel the shame and regret pouring through her already, though it wasn't evident in her body language and he wondered just _how_someone could hold all of that in and not give any indication that a storm was raging within them, and said, "Don't," before she could even open her lips to apologize.

He already knew. And she didn't need to.


	6. Chapter 6

Anderson had given them a one hour reprieve after the Drift Compatibility test before simulation training. Away from everyone else, he'd told her it was so she could collect herself with a pointed look that said 'don't argue with me'. She'd braced herself for a dressing down, despite her status and their friendship, and so was surprised when instead Anderson had simply congratulated her about not getting completely fucking lost in the Drift.

Of course, that had been mostly Kaidan's doing, holding her steady as he'd done years before when she'd thrown him aside after the scientists inadvertently activated the beacon. She hadn't realized just how much that whole situation had frightened _him_, how it had eaten at him and he'd blamed himself even though he had now way of knowing the scientists would muck things up and trigger a security field.

She also hadn't realized how _shit_she'd looked after that ordeal. Dark circles around her eyes, hair sweaty and matted to her face after Kaidan had removed her helmet to check on her once the beacon released her and she hit the deck. Skin pale and bloodless.

At least she'd had a good excuse.

Now she was dicking around in the armor labs until their first test flight, trying to stay out of the way of the specialists doing their jobs.

"This is the suit?" she asked.

Specialist Parker looked up from her work station and nodded as Riley opened the locker. "Yours is complete, Major. Would you like me to go over the specifications?"

Riley examined the armor and circuitry suit. Red, probably to go with the name of the ship. Armor techs always did love that kind of thing, especially once the jaeger program kicked off and jaeger pilots became the next best thing to rockstars. As if her notoriety in the Alliance hadn't already been enough, becoming the first human Spectre and then jaeger pilot had skyrocketed her into the top echelon.

Her armor while pilot of the _Vulcan Fury_ had been orange and charcoal gray. She'd joked more than once with Williams she felt like an overstuffed, electrical bee.

Then Williams had purchased goddamned wings for her next birthday after that. She still had them, stuffed at the bottom of her duffel. Previously with no small degree of embarrassment coupled with humor born of a sarcastic friendship, now with sentiment and a not insignificant dose of survivor's guilt.

"Sure."

Parker slipped past her and removed the armor, slinging it onto a nearby diagnostics table. "Jaeger combat suits weren't designed with environmental seals. The focus was more on body protection and shock absorption, lining up with neural circuitry suit." She hit some buttons on the console connected to the table and specs floated above the suit as it was scanned by the table. "Valkyrie pilots aren't meant to be in the cockpit for an extended period of time, unlike typical tours."

"I read that in the report," Riley interrupted, excited, though she kept the tone of her voice neutral, "Twenty-four suit air supply. Valkyries will be deployed off carriers and nearby space stations. The Alliance already has three Valkyrie class warships ready for flight, and ten near completion with an additional five on the budget."

"Not counting what the STG and turians have in development for Council airspace."

"Isn't the Alliance sending two Valkyries to the fleet?"

Parker bobbed her head excitedly. "Yes, two Alliance Valkyries will be deployed to the Citadel. The Destiny Ascension's been retrofitted to house and deploy eight. Another four to -"

Riley held up a hand. "Okay, the suit_._"

"Right, Major. Sorry. Get distracted easily. Okay, so environmental seals, air supply is good for twenty-hour continuous use. The cabin of course has air circulation complete with CO2 scrubbers, so you won't be completely reliant on the suit for air. So," she held up a finger as she marched around the table and lifted the shoulder of the armor up, exposing the back, "when you're in the conn pod, you're connected to the Drift interface tech, yeah? We got fancy in R&D, integrated life support readouts into the neural circuitry of the undersuit."

Riley glanced at the undersuit still hanging in the locker. It didn't look significantly different in design. Then again, she wasn't a tech-head and the finer nuances of engineering blew past her.

Kaidan probably understood. She wondered if he'd already gone through this spiel since he'd been aboard the station longer than she had.

"When you're connected in the Drift, you're connected to the ship, too. Controlling it. Now, the ship can tell you if it's lost air support and your armor hard seals will activate. The hardsuit will switch to its internal life support."

Riley nodded, impressed. _That_ was certainly a beneficial use of the Drift tech.

"If you disengage from the Drift, and therefore pilot rig, switching to independent air supply is automatic, of course. Auto-disengages as soon as the helmet is removed. Like normal."

The doctor passed the helmet to her. Same style as the Jaeger helmets with the full frontal clear visor, lit up from the sides. The N7 logo fit in with theme, unlike the bumblebee one. Riley set the helmet back down on the table.

"Anything else?"

"Tons of updated tech, integrated medi-gel systems, power output, ballistics..." Parker trailed off and Riley was about to leave and let Parker get back to her work when she shot up. "Integrated amp functionality! Hardsuit syncs with your amp and displays power flow through the amp to your nervous system, capacity, temperature, and how well it's doing!"

"How well it's doing? Like, if it needs to be replaced?"

"Exactly, yes!"

"Will that work with every amp?"

"No, not every amp. Not yet, at least. But it will work with yours. And, Major Alenko uses the same brand, though a different model, so he'll benefit from the upgrade as well."

Riley nodded. Fourteen years of military work with her amp had taught her to recognize the warning signs when she was at risk of overheating or blowing her amp out. But she couldn't argue against synced displays of real time usage. Especially if an amp was on the brink of malfunction – one of the few things that was hard to predict in advance.

Of course, that functionality would only be useful dirtside. Though it got her thinking about two biotics connected in the Drift... and what the outcome of _that_ would be.

"Ah, Major Alenko!" Parker slipped around Riley as Kaidan entered the room. "Specialist Carson was looking for you. The adjustments to your hardsuit are complete."

"Fantastic," Kaidan replied, coming to rest next to Riley. "Nice color scheme."

"I thought so. You get the tech babble?"

"I read the tech babble."

"Of course you did."

"If you two are ready, we can get you suited up for the test flight, make sure everything checks out."

Riley nodded. "Absolutely."

Nothing compared to slipping into a new set of armor for the first time. Well, some things _could_, such as holding the Widow Anti-Materiel Sniper rifle the geth had manufactured. Knowing she couldn't shoot it without breaking an arm hadn't stopped her from wanting to try it regardless. So when the Black Widow had been released, based on the Widow's design but manufactured for organics, Riley had been ecstatic. Not as ecstatic as the day she'd purchased the Wraith.

Now that gun was a thing of perfection.

That feeling _almost_ compared to this.

The armor in front of her had the added bonus of hooking her up to a first generation Valkyrie class warship, which she would fly in concert with Kaidan Alenko using her _mind_.

_No_ feeling could really compare with _that_.

She caught Kaidan smiling at her and could almost hear a whisper in her mind of what he would say. She just smiled back at him because it was evident in his features that he was just as excited as she was. To top it off, it was his _first_ new advanced warship he'd be flying with his mind. While this was technically the first one she'd be flying, it wasn't the first she'd be operating.

That only made her even more excited for the test flight to come. The training simulation she and Alenko had completed two hours earlier wasn't a substitute for the real thing. Nor did all the reading she'd done since she'd gotten here really tell her what it would feel like to take control of the Valkyrie and _fly_.

Moments like these made her understand Joker all that much more. Flying was his escape from the limitations of his body. It didn't matter that he was fragile when he was in the cockpit because he could take on anyone and go anywhere. Flying was his freedom.

Of course, he'd never say that to _anyone_; but he didn't have to.

Specialist Carson entered the room, tugging a wheeled crate behind him. "Major Alenko, sir. I've got your hardsuit right here."

Riley headed over to the locker where her undersuit was while Kaidan walked over to Carson. The specialist rattled off adjustments and specs, Kaidan voicing approval as his suit was unpacked.

"Alright, Major," Parker said as she opened the locker. "Let's get you outfitted."

Riley stripped off her uniform while Parker unpacked the undersuit. The neural circuitry patterns were different from what she remembered on the suit for her Jaeger, but that was to be expected as the Valkyries did not have a 1:1 pilot to ship movement alignment. She'd spent half the night practicing the motions as best she could without being connected in the conn pod and the training session had certainly proven beyond reasonable doubt that operating the Valkyrie would be challenging, different, and exhilarating.

Parker assisted her in pulling on the undersuit, connecting all the functions that most marines didn't like to talk about but everyone knew were necessary. After that came the hardsuit. Technicians attached the plating, lining up nodes and latches. Some pieces strapped and clicked into place, others required drilling.

The spine connector snapped onto the suit and Riley would swear up and down she felt it integrating with her own nervous system even though it wasn't active. Williams used to give her shit over that, too.

Of course, Riley used to give Williams shit after each mission when she'd swear she felt like her arm was still a cannon.

The materials used were lighter and the suit felt more lithe, though Parker had assured her no fewer than three times that it would offer just as much protection as the medium armor she was used to on the battlefield. The surface area was certainly greater in terms of protection, but it reminded her of the older sets of Onyx armor the Alliance used to hand out to marines fresh out of basic.

Once she was completely encased, minus the helmet which she held at her side, she walked over to Kaidan who was nearly finished. Techs standing behind him, snapping the last pieces in place before attaching the spine.

"Your face is all stoic but I bet you're jumping like a little kid inside." Riley almost missed a step, not having expected _him_ to give her shit like Williams had. Though really she should have seen it coming.

"I am excited," she said, coming to a stop in front of him.

"You're all set, Major."

Kaidan retrieved his helmet, tucking it into his side just as hers was. "Let's go fly a ship."

His boyish grin was disarming and Riley found herself grinning back, for once not concerned that her grin was a little lopsided.


	7. Chapter 7

The whole flight-deck had come out to watch them test the _Crimson Tactical_ and take her out on her maiden voyage. Kaidan got the first glimpse of what it must be like to be a Jaeger pilot, glancing at Riley marching next to him, features smoothed and collected though no longer deceiving him as to what went on underneath.

When they'd Drifted earlier, he hadn't the slightest inkling to the amount of guilt and regret she carried with her. All the news broadcasts and Jaeger pilot interviews, she'd been exactly as she was now: like a rock. Immovable. Stoic.

He'd bet his money on her boiling with excitement on the inside. He certainly was.

He was also nervous and not just because this was his first flight in a Valkyrie and first flight in the Drift. Despite the hours of training before Riley's arrival, nothing could compare to the actual thing. To top it off, he was going in with the only person to survive combat in a Jaeger solo.

It was less daunting than he thought it'd be, more daunting than it should have been.

Unlike the lab, the control room here was massive. Monitors and console stations, remote connections to the _Crimson Tactical_ displaying its status, currently inactive monitor that would display their life-signs as soon as they were in the ship. Another that would display the status of the neural bridge.

Miranda Lawson was overseeing operations, under Admiral Anderson. Specialists running around, coordinating the first flight. Everyone stopped what they were doing as soon they entered the control room. Unlike Riley, who seemed to know what to do, Kaidan simply felt a little awkward at the attention and let Riley take the lead.

Being in her head had taught him that she reluctantly accepted the fame that had come with being the sole survivor from Akuze. Fame that had only been made worse once she'd become a Jaeger pilot. Now here she was testing out the first Valkyrie class warship. She knew the steps necessary to get through the attention whereas he was more used to standing outside of the spotlight.

She raised her hands in the air and the cheering that had started as soon as they entered the control room ceased.

Miranda Lawson approached them with a bottle of champagne. "To metaphorically break over the bulkhead."

"How about we save the glasses after the party," Anderson said. Riley handed the champagne to him.

"Take care of it, sir."

"Make me proud."

"We will, sir."

Anderson jerked his head towards the bridge, grinning. "Go on, get out of here."

The conn pod was bigger than the small station they'd tested their Drift Compatibility in earlier, but not by much and of necessity because the pilot rigs took up a majority of the space. So while the square footage was arguably bigger than their test station had been, more of it was occupied by tech. Most of it was occupied by the two pilot rigs in the center.

"Two pilots aboard," the ship AI announced as soon as both of them entered the conn pod. He'd read in the ship specs that the _Crimson_ had been outfitted with an advanced artificial intelligence nicknamed EDI – Enhanced Defense Intelligence. Developed by Cerberus, technically in violation of the statutes against artificial intelligence research, but Cerberus had gotten around that as EDI hadn't been intentionally created. She'd evolved from an Alliance VI program on Luna Base.

He'd led the team that had taken her offline, though then he hadn't known just what she was at the time – only what she was capable of doing, which was spectacularly wrecking a ton of a shit with limited resources.

He moved towards the left rig, Riley towards the right.

Stepping into the rig was a surreal first time experience as the clamps sealed around his boots, locking him in position. The odd weightlessness from standing on the pedals reminded of the time he'd been caught in an enemy pull field. Only quick thinking had gotten him out of that situation alive, sacrificing his omni-tool in the process.

That was also the day he'd learned just how easy it was to destabilize pull fields with extraordinary displays of biotic power. His CO would have been pissed about the damaged armor if he hadn't also been extraordinarily impressed and relieved that his marine came back alive from what was typically certain death.

He pulled his helmet over his head as the technicians wired them in, attaching the harness to their hardsuits.

"_Prepare for neural handshake,"_ Miranda Lawson informed them.

He reached out and found Riley's hand as the techs cleared and secured the pod. He turned to look at her and she nodded. _Good luck_.

"Neural interface drift initiating," EDI announced.

The second time joining in the Drift was certainly a lot easier than the first, but no less a rush of intense emotions, some that didn't belong to him, some that belonged in the past. Some that begged for closer attention and the urge to lose himself had to be resisted.

It wasn't something he ever thought he'd get used to – that flood of emotions and memories, nor the added presence of another human being.

He'd never been more grateful than at that moment for all the hours spent training for this moment.

"Neural bridge... calibrated," EDI announced. Miranda confirmed it over the comm.

"_Shepard, Alenko, you two ready for the big drop?"_

"Ready for the big drop, sir," Riley answered.

He shared a look with her, a rush of excitement flooding both ways through the connection.

"_Countdown in fifteen... fourteen... thirteen..."_

If he was honest with himself, and honesty was generally the rule of thumb in his life, _this_ was the part he was looking forward to the most. No airlocks, no docking procedures, no decontamination. Just entering a conn pod stationed within a specially designed docking tube that would be sealed by the techs from the outside that reminded him, if only a little, of the docking tubes from _Battlestar: Galactica_. Except these were vertical instead of horizontal and their ship was much bigger.

"Why am I not surprised that you're a nerd?" Riley asked.

He glanced at her just as the countdown reached zero and said, "Because you're in my head."

No drive cores in the conn pod meant that the big drop was a unique experience from any other ground or space based vehicle: his belly flipped upwards and momentary weightlessness engulfed his senses. Even Mako drops weren't this dramatically felt, despite the fact that a Mako drop was executed from a significantly higher altitude.

The rig flexed, absorbing most of the impact, as the conn pod connected with the body of the ship. The pod sealed with the rest of the _Crimson_ and the ship became _whole_.

"EDI, initiate start up sequence," Riley ordered.

"Start up sequence initiating. Bringing the drive core online."

He analyzed the output as systems came online, the _Crimson_ humming with life around them. "Numbers look solid."

"_Everything looks good on our end, _Crimson_. Are you ready to connect to the ship."_

"We're ready."

A blue orb representing EDI appeared between his and Riley's displays. "Initiating pilot to Valkyrie connection."

While Kaidan Alenko had read through all the ship spec reports, perused all the data, studied the drift and drift tech, and was no stranger to engineering designs, none of it prepared him for the sensation of the neural circuitry suit activating. The slightly warm buzz of electric signals coordinating his movements with not only Riley but that of the ship.

"This is... different," Riley said.

He could hear the thoughts whispering in the back of his mind. Similar patterns of electric signals but ever so slightly off from what she was used to in a Jaeger.

EDI pulsed. "Drift systems online. Calibrating hemispheres."

The left control mechanism blossomed around his wrist and suddenly he felt as if he was so much _more_ than just a person. He could feel the ship, sense the systems, even feel EDI's presence within her mainframe, running calculations.

"Right hemisphere, calibrated. Left hemisphere, calibrated."

"_Fly her on out, _Crimson," Anderson said. _"Let's see what she's capable of."_

He met Riley's eyes. "Let's do this."

They leaned forward in their rigs and the thrusters roared to life deep within the ship. Thinking of his body as an extension through which to control a ship and treating his limbs not as if they were capable of grabbing and walking but rather as mechanical parts of ship that controlled thrust and movement was beyond bizarre. Yet the motions were intuitive, and the hours of practicing had certainly ingrained the not quite 1:1 correlation of pilot to ship control.

Suspended as he was in the rig, he almost felt, for a ludicrous second, that he was superman.

He purposefully avoided eye contact with Riley. It didn't stop the amusement from rolling through, but eye contact would just make it _worse._

Though seeing the smile on her face would probably be worth it. Ever since discovering just how much went on beneath her stoic exterior, he took great pleasure in breaking through that barrier. Even if it was at his own expense.

Moving in sync with another human being in order to operate a ship many times bigger than himself was perhaps the oddest experience of his life. Odder than simply joining his mind with another because a healthy dose of sci-fi as a kid and later, becoming familiar with asari and learning of their mating process had familiarized him with the concept of mind-melds. Though the asari scientists working on Drift tech he'd encountered had all said the Drift was a bit more open and fluid in terms of memory sharing.

As a whole, the asari didn't seem entirely sure whether or not to embrace the technology or shut it away behind locked cupboards forever.

"Did you know," Riley said, shutting down his train of thought as they slowly maneuvered the ship out of the docking bay, "with the development of the Valkyries, there's some pretty heavy research by the hanar and elcor to integrate what the Alliance and STG have developed into a rig capable of being controlled by them?"

The underlying current coming through the Drift was that he thought too much and she was surprised by the amount of thinking he did, not because she thought he was stupid but because he, too, could appear a little too stoic.

Not nearly as much as she did.

"There's already modified Jaeger rigs for volus, though that's not too surprising I guess since they're bipedal."

"Not much of a change," Riley agreed.

"Elcor conn pods would require heavy redesigning."

"You think a hanar rig would look like a fishnet?"

Kaidan practically choked as he engaged the rear thrusters in full with Riley as they cleared Jump Zero's perimeter, his limbs moving without second thought in concert with hers. The _Crimson_ shot away from the station, faster than even the _Normandy_ and it was one of the Alliance's best war frigates, not to mention the fastest.

Then again, that was kind of the point of the Valkyries – that they be able to get in quiet and fast, attack, stay on the move, and survive.

And on the off chance that a Valkyrie was taken down, minimal loss of life. The biggest upside for most military operations, especially in the middle of an extended war with no hope of compromise.

They'd finished their second round of advanced maneuvers, completing two circuits around the system and were about to test out the ridiculous maneuver that _no_ ship was currently capable of when Anderson interrupted them on the comm.

"_Relay activation, Athena Nebula. Two Leviathans, codenamed Sagar and Timera, breached the network. The asari defense perimeter isn't capable of withstanding a prolonged attack."_

"Orders, sir?"

"_We're sending you in, _Crimson. _Rendez-vous with the _Normandy_ at the Citadel, take point from there."_

They shared a grim look, eyes hard. "Aye, sir."


	8. Chapter 8

"Preparing for relay jump," EDI said.

Riley pressed her lips together. Jaegers were ground-based fighting vehicles and so had never been through a relay while in one. Theoretically, anything within a protected shell could be shot through the network and so the Valkyrie shouldn't be any different. It didn't stop her muscles tensing in apprehension.

"Relay alignment... confirmed," Kaidan said next to her.

With that, their rigs disengaged from the active position as the Valkyrie connected and entered the corridor. She took the brief moment of respite to stretch her limbs as much as she could while strapped to the pilot rig.

"Calm before the storm," Kaidan murmured next to her. She wasn't entirely sure if she'd been meant to hear it, despite the Drift connection.

The storm was always there, though. Moments of quiet and clarity and a chance to breathe, but it always came back. And it never seemed to lose power. "More like the eye of the storm."

She wasn't sure if she'd meant for Kaidan to overhear, but he grunted all the same.

The accompanying belly-flop in conjunction with the rigs rising back up notified them they'd exited the corridor.

The _Normandy_ was waiting for them with a small fleet of five frigates. Two turian, two asari, and one Alliance vessel.

She opened a communications channel. "_Normandy_, this is the _Crimson._"

"_Yeah, I know who you are Shepard. Who's your copilot?" _Joker answered.

She shook her head as Kaidan replied. "I am. What's the sitrep?"

"_Shit, two Spectres in a Valkyrie taking point?"_

Riley sighed and shared a long-suffering look with Kaidan. Joker had been his pilot for a lot longer than he'd been hers, and she could _feel_ the weight of long-suffering irritation rolling through the Drift, memories of Joker cracking quips at inopportune moments and never taking anything seriously. Kaidan face-palming while sitting at his desk reading a report written by Joker. She commiserated.

"Prepare for relay activation," Kaidan ordered.

"_Aye, aye, Major. Coordinated fleet movement ready in two minutes. Programming the numbers now."_

"Position?"

"_Leading the charge. We'll be right behind you, covering your six. Transferring you to Simmons for additional communications."_

Her console flashed to life as she activated it while EDI brought other systems online – maps, LADAR scans, things she was used to seeing perched above a galaxy map and bigger than her head. Not crammed onto a display right before her eyes while she was strapped inside a harness. Arguably her Jaeger experience should have prepared her for this, yet the discrepancy still existed within her brain because the irrational part of her brain was only focusing on the _spaceship_ aspect and not the _Jaeger turned spaceship_ part.

Still, it was only a minor adjustment and one that wouldn't negatively impact her performance. She'd just have to get used to it.

"_Major Shepard, Major Alenko, this is Major Simmons. Situation in the Parnitha System is critical. First CAT four double attack."_

"Shit."

Both of them had said it. Simmons continued uninterrupted. _"Latest intel through the network indicates Timera headed straight for the planet while Sagar's bunkered down near the relay. The asari forces have managed to keep the relay hot; waiting until we give the word. Our timing has to be perfect."_

"Otherwise there's a chance Sagar will breach the relay network."

Good thing the ward arms of the Citadel were closed – a motion she had pushed through only months before shortly after her 'retirement' from the Jaeger program. Because while she had no longer been a pilot, she still had a responsibility to defend the Council in any way she could and at that time, it meant pulling on her political cap and forcing a nonstandard and rotating schedule on the Citadel. It put more pressure on transport ships bringing in refugees and shipping lanes had clogged even more than what the war had already done to them. But those hardships were countered with benefits and protection details.

Her motion was perhaps the one thing every single Spectre, regardless of race, had agreed upon. Much to the Council's dismay.

There wasn't exactly a way to say 'no' to fourteen Spectres who all wanted the same thing. It was going to happen, regardless.

Too bad Kaidan hadn't been there. Not that his added weight would have forced the Council to respond faster but, well, he probably would have enjoyed the looks on their faces.

Kaidan grunted next to her, hands moving through his displays as he absorbed the incoming data. She closed her eyes and brought up the memory, aware of the dangers of seeking something out, but wanting to share it with him nonetheless. She was also aware of him suddenly looking at her, a part of her seemingly looking at herself, but she carried on until she could see the surprise in the asari Councilor's eyes. The look of utter disbelief that she'd mustered every Spectre aboard the station into one room and gotten them all to agree on one thing.

The contempt from the salarian Councilor who hadn't been on good terms with her since she'd voiced her public support for curing the genophage. It didn't matter what she did, he found a reason to dislike it.

The quiet respect from the turian Councilor who appreciated sensible approaches to wartime strategies.

Udina's indignation that she'd done something behind his back and no matter how much it was good on paper, for him particularly since it added to his image as he was her official supporter for her candidacy. He didn't like that she couldn't be leashed.

Apparently he'd hoped that Kaidan _could_ be.

She could have told him, before Drifting with Kaidan, that _that_ never would have happened.

"Satisfied?"

She opened her eyes. Kaidan had twisted in his rig, disengaging from the pilot-to-Valkyrie movement protocols, to look at her head on. A sparkle of amusement evident in his eyes, highlighted by the lights along the sides of the helmet.

Instead of answering, which, coupled with the not so innocent expression in his eyes and tugging at the corner of his mouth, made her mouth go dry as she unconsciously licked her lips, she said, "We ready to go, _Normandy_?"

"_On your mark, _Crimson_. Ready to send the package as soon as you say the word."_

They returned their eyes forward. "EDI will make the connection as soon as the relay is live." She glanced at Kaidan and he nodded. EDI pulsed ahead of them. "Mark."

"_Transmitting... delivered. Window opening in ten seconds."_

They met with chaos on the other side of the relay as the comms erupted with chatter from asari vessels, parsed and interpreted in real time by EDI.

Riley wasted no time in executing orders as she examined the situation. Thessia had ground defense systems in place and while it sucked that Timera would undoubtedly tear through at least one city, it had nothing on Sagar potentially breaking through the relay network. Her first goal was containment.

It had to be.

"_Normandy_, guard the relay. Make sure Sagar doesn't get through."

"_Aye, ma'am."_

Kaidan switched the broadcast to all channels. "Asari vessels, pull back and shore up defenses. _Ascalon, Hastings_, secure the perimeter. _Hong Kong, Saratoga_ head to Thessia. Bolster asari defense systems and see if we can't prevent Timera from breaking atmo."

A round of "aye ayes" echoed over the comm as they geared up for their first frontal assault in the _Crimson Tactical._

"Let's see just what kind of hell we can do."

"Forward thrusters."

They leaned forward in their rigs, engaging the rear thrusters at three quarter speed and raced ahead of the asari vessels pulling out, meeting Sagar head on.

For half a second, Riley wished there was a discernible face because she'd have loved to see the expression on its face as it confronted its first new vessel in well over a year. The Jaegers had been the last big surprise – nothing new since except for improved weaponry.

One of its massive talons struck out towards the _Crimson – _and missed as they rolled the ship at the last second, bodies straining against their harnesses, and Kaidan charged the weapons on the port side. EDI confirmed the hit as they brought the ship about.

There was beauty in moving in sync with someone; and she and Kaidan did it _perfectly._ No voicing of actions, just doing it, connected in the Drift. Ideas bouncing off each other even as they dodged more attacks from Sagar, charging weapons without having to ask because that old saying about two heads being better than one really was true – especially when those heads were connected in ways previously limited to asari and Vulcan mind-melds

God, Kaidan was rubbing off on her.

"Enemy ship is powering its main gun," her console flashed with the data even as EDI warned them.

"Alter thruster direction up!"

The _Crimson_ shot downwards as they rotated the ships thrusters, the conn pod shaking from the quick execution despite the inertial dampeners.

"Crimson_, _Normandy, _come in."_

"We're a little busy here," Kaidan grunted as they powered the forward thanix cannon, coming about at incredible speeds that would have sheered the outer plating on a standard frigate. She could practically feel the frustration rolling off Sagar as they continued to the brunt of its attacks, suffering only glancing blows from swipes of its talons.

"_Timera broke through planetary defenses and broke atmo above Thessia."_

The Leviathan dodged the hit from their main gun, the stream of molten metal shooting off into the distance.

"Two GARDIAN defense lasers have been compromised, diverting power to shields."

"As soon as-" the whole ship shuddered, alarms beeping. Both Kaidan and Riley were tossed to the side in their rigs, the ship rolling with them.

"Starboard forward outer hull compromised."

"Shit," Kaidan regained his composure, "That hit took out our starboard disruptor torpedo launch tubes."

"What the hell _was_ that?"

"It appears the Leviathans have upgraded their weapons systems to counteract the new ablative armor," EDI replied. "I've completed a full outer hull scan and compiled data for Operative Lawson once we return-"

"That's great, EDI," Riley interrupted. "Did it pierce all the way through?"

"Negative."

"Looks like you're leading the main assault, Kaidan."

"We need a new position."

"_Normandy_, come in."

"_That was one hell of a wallop you guys took, Major,"_ Simmons answered. "But it looks like you have everything solid enough. I'm sending the _Hastings_ to Thessia."

"Good. We could use a distraction."

"_Joker's already on it, Major."_

True to her word, the _Normandy_ flew across their bow, firing its broadside guns as it passed between them. Close enough to bypass the kinetic barriers though they'd hammered on them enough that most of the ordinance would have found their target regardless.

"I read you," Riley replied to a question Kaidan hadn't even voiced yet; she'd 'heard' it coming.

On his mark, she deactivated the starboard thruster while Kaidan shoved additional power to his, bringing the _Crimson_ swinging about, just as Sagar launched another volley from its main gun. The projectile swung harmlessly past the side of the Valkyrie.

Kaidan's volley didn't miss his mark as port side javelins fired directly into the 'heart' of the beast.

"Direct hit!" EDI confirmed.

Riley wasn't satisfied. She'd seen too many Leviathans survive what should have brought them down. "Bring her about. Charge the thanix."

They swung around the unmoving creature and lined up their shot. The molten metal slammed into the beast before it even had a chance to properly cool, disintegrating cybernetically enhanced flesh and spewing Leviathan blue into space as its guts were exposed.

"Relay secure," she breathed and Kaidan sighed in agreement. Exhilaration and adrenaline pumping through both their systems.

Standing as a gigantic robot with fists capable of punching through mountains had been awesome. Probably one of the most surreal and intense moments of her lives were spent in the conn pod of a Jaeger, fighting monsters humans weren't capable of fighting on their own through the extended limbs of the Jaeger.

This, however, was amazing. Terrifying beyond belief, definitely, but _amazing_. Space combat had always come with some degree of helplessness as the crew of a ship relied on the few directing the fight to make it out alive. And while those few worked together to make sure the ship and her crew made it out, a lot of it still felt secondhand. One rarely flew the ship and fired the guns on a frigate, and fighters were next to useless up against Leviathans who had their own extraordinarily terrifying defense systems similar to GARDIAN.

But here, in the conn pod of the Valkyrie, they _were _the ship.

Kaidan caught her eye as the exhilaration wore down. "Let's go take out beastie number two."


	9. Chapter 9

They hadn't made it more than ten steps out of the conn pod before being greeted by a round of cheers and hurrah's, still in the process of removing their helmets and catching a breath because it felt as if he'd run a _marathon_ even though all he'd really done was control a ship with his mind in concert with Riley.

She was breathing hard, too, so he didn't feel too bad about it.

Though he supposed part of that was probably from the thrill of a successful debut for the Valkyrie class warships. The _Crimson_ had performed better than anyone had thought possible, including previous Jaeger pilots who were _used_ to doing the impossible and winning against terrible odds.

"You returned all my frigates, Majors," Admiral Hackett said by way of greeting. Anderson stood next to him, similarly proud expression plastered across his face.

"Some of them have scratches, sir," Kaidan answered.

He was surprised when Riley said, "I also wrecked some of the armor on my brand new ship."

Anderson sighed as he reached out to shake their hands, congratulating them. "Unfortunately we have bad news on our end. There was a secondary breach in the Omega Nebula. Another category five. Omega was destroyed."

The news hit his gut like ice water.

"Did anyone make it out?"

It _shouldn't _have warmed him that Riley's first concern wasn't for the vast amount of resources they'd just lost, effectively pushing the expiration date of the war up by a significant margin considering the dwindling resources not to mention dwindling population despite their best efforts, but it did. She hadn't let Akuze close her heart like so many others might have were they in her position. She certainly made a good pretense of being unaffected, but he knew better. Knew _her_ better and right now, the idea of the millions of people living aboard the station having their lives snuffed out was killing her.

He didn't need to be connected to her in the Drift to know that, to feel the pain she felt.

Pain he also felt.

"Two ships made it through the relay before the station was destroyed. The terminus army is redirecting refugees to Council space now. Omega was their final foothold, outside of Ilium, but with Ilium's borders closed, there's nowhere else to go."

"Shit," he breathed.

The back of Riley's hand had managed to find the back of his, and he found comfort in the small application of seemingly innocent pressure.

Hackett shook his head. "I'm sure we'll get word of numbers soon enough."

"Why don't you two go grab some chow and get some rest," Anderson said. "As soon as your ship hit the system, EDI started uploading data and some of it's compelling. Operative Lawson's already got a team on analyzing it, but what we have just might turn the outcome of this war in our favor."

"Sir?" Riley asked. She took a half step closer to Anderson and he followed suit.

"We've never been able to ascertain where the Leviathans came from," Hackett explained. "But what we've deciphered so far from the data EDI obtained suggests a location. Hopefully we'll have answers soon."

The smoking gun. Years of research devoted to figuring out how and from where the Leviathans were breaching the network. Research that had exposed the alpha relay in the Bahak system for what it was, much to the batarians dismay. Wherever they were, they had a relay similarly designed but on a much larger scale.

He still remembered the reports from the first attack on the Citadel. How the relay had rotated, which wasn't abnormal as alignment between relays was achieved for mass transit. What _was_ abnormal was that its degree of rotation hadn't matched any known relay. That was all the warning the Citadel defenses had received before the first Leviathan breached the network.

He'd been on Eden Prime with Riley at the time. According to timestamps in the logs, it lined up with the moment he held her in front of him shortly after she'd dropped out of the beacon's field.

Most of Zakera ward had suffered massive damage and the Citadel tower had been all but destroyed by the time Alliance ships arrived and turned the tide of the battle.

"More on this later once we have more concrete results," Anderson held up a hand, forestalling more questions from Riley. "Both of you have done good and should take what R&R you can before the next attack. We've already reset the clock and our prediction team believes the next attack could happen in less than a day."

Riley didn't look happy about it but she accepted it with a brisk nod.

"Conference in four hours, barring another breach."

"Aye, sir."

He followed Riley out of the hangar to the armory. The techs were already waiting for them, ready to help them strip out of their suits and, undoubtedly, run diagnostics on the armor. He almost wished he could stay for that, but now that he'd had a moment to relax he was _hungry_ and was keenly aware that he was covered in sweat and in need of a shower.

"Meet you in the mess?" Riley asked once they were de-armored, hovering near the entrance to the armory while Kaidan pulled on his boots.

"Need a shower, too?"

"Hell yeah."

"Twenty minutes."

She nodded and left. He headed in the opposite direction towards his quarters.

The hot shower felt good as did the clean uniform and lingering beneath the hot water longer than necessary only made him five minutes late to the mess. Still earlier than Riley, who arrived a few minutes after him, apologetic smile on her face. The scar on the right side of her lips lending the smile a lopsidedness he found endearing.

"Alenko, Shepard, very nice!" Butler shouted across the room. She raised her fist in the air and the rest of the marines in the mess cheered with her.

The news of the overwhelming success of the Valkyrie was spreading fast and he wasn't so sure he liked this aspect of being a Valkyrie pilot now that he was confronted with it. He'd always been the quiet, unassuming marine in the background. Never in the spotlight despite the commendations peppering his record over the years. Despite becoming the second human Spectre. It was kind of his thing, the one constant that had marked his career since he'd enlisted; but that was the case no longer.

They opted to take their meal away from the hall on one of the pathways overlooking the hangar deck, watching the maintenance crews go about their work, some suiting up to repair exterior damage to the ships. The _Crimson_ was just just visible through the barrier at the end of the deck where maintenance crews could slip out easily for repairs.

"She got her first scar," Riley said.

He looked at her. She pushed her food tray to the side and leaned against the rail, still staring out at the _Crimson_. He followed her gaze back to the ship and leaned against the rail next to her, feet dangling over the edge.

From this distance, the mark on her armor was visible only by the discoloration it left on the hull.

"Truly a warship, now."

"Got her first kills," Riley agreed.

It was her turn to look at him and he met her gaze earnestly. Amber eyes meeting dark eyes and finding common ground, saying things that neither needed to say because for once silence said more than what mere words could. He smiled at her, his fingers searching out hers and latching on as they returned to watching the maintenance crews repair the _Crimson_.

Watching ship repairs probably wasn't what Anderson had had in mind when he told them to take the chance to get some rest, expecting them to hit their bunks and get shut eye instead. But it was the only way _he_ envisioned spending his rest period, in Riley's company. Nothing else came close.

Operative Lawson was in her _element_, that much was obvious to Riley as soon as she entered the lab where their conference was being held, deep in the R&D department. Kaidan was already there, too, which surprised her not at all. Though where he'd found the glasses was beyond her because she couldn't recall anything from his profile nor their shared memories in the Drift of him needing them in the first place.

What did surprise her was that EDI was _also_ in the room, her blue orb hovering above a console in the center of the room.

"Major Shepard," the AI greeted her. Lawson flicked her gaze up before focusing back on her work.

"Alenko, you did some research on the Bahak relay before the batarians kicked out the Council sponsored research team, right?"

Kaidan turned towards Miranda, setting down a datapad, and said, "Yeah, some."

"What do you make of this?"

Kaidan squished in closer to Miranda and Riley couldn't help joining them because even though she couldn't program worth shit and probably wouldn't understand what was before her eyes, it was still _interesting_ and if she could follow along, all the better. After all, programming was just another language, right?

One she'd never bothered to learn, but still.

"_Oh_," Kaidan said. Riley looked at him, then Miranda who was _smiling_.

Miranda leaned forward. "Right?"

"This activation protocol must be in every relay, though I've never seen anything like it before."

"This protocol is not logged in any relay transport log in Council space," EDI confirmed. "While scanning the broadcasts originating from Sagar during the battle, there was one nearly successful activation sequence before override the signal. The relay accepted these parameters and compiled data heretofore unseen."

"What is it?" Riley asked as Anderson entered the room, followed quickly by Admiral Hackett.

"It's an address!" the answer came from an engineer she didn't know from the other side of the room, hunched over a terminal. "Not _just_ an address, of course, but an address in contained within the activation protocol. You're not going to believe where it goes."

Everyone in the room turned to stare at her and her eyes slowly rose above the edge of her terminal at the undivided attention she'd garnered.

"The galactic core. Wait!" she held out a hand once everyone began talking at once, though Riley remained silent, closing her eyes.

She tried to remember just how the Citadel relay had positioned itself during the first attack from the images she'd seen in the aftermath. Not in any direction that was typical, and a large number of relays connected to the Widow System.

She snapped her eyes open and activated her 'tool as the engineer continued. "It sounds impossible, I know. But it's the only logical location, assuming this address follows the same pathing algorithms that every other relay in the network does. There's no reason to assume that it wouldn't because without already knowing the protocol, there's no way to _find_ the protocol. Of course, we haven't _tested_ it on the nearest relay, but if I'm correct, this is a backdoor built into every relay and it's hidden very well."

Riley found the images she wanted and brought them up on the main screen in the room. "She's right."

"I'll be damned," Anderson muttered next to her.

The images corroborated the engineer's findings. The relay was pointed towards the center of the galaxy.

"I'm compiling a database of images taken of relays during Leviathan breaches. Compiled evidence so far suggests that Specialist Traynor is correct in her hypothesis."

"We need recon data," Hackett said. "Before we dive in."

"We might not have time," Traynor said. "We've been running calculations in R&D, predictive models, factoring in recent attacks. Thessia and Omega weren't the only systems assaulted today. Two more in the terminus systems saw Leviathan attacks, but they were repelled. Four colonies lost, Horizon amongst them. The rate and number of attacks has increased but that's not the only thing-"

"-We're being herded like cattle," Miranda interrupted. "All the planets that have been lost or evacuated, consolidating our numbers. Five colonies total, one in the attican traverse, the rest in the terminus systems, that were isolated due to attacks completely disappeared. No contact. Nothing left behind once we got reinforcements in. The Leviathans responsible were gone as well. Not destroyed or taken out, gone."

The silence in the room was deafening as everyone digested the information.

Shit, the information terrified her and she'd been fighting the damned things for well over two years.

"It's what happened to the Protheans," she murmured, half to herself, but Miranda agreed with her aloud.

"Yes, it it. Doctor T'Soni's been leading an expedition team around the galaxy, funded by the Council, and her findings have told us exactly this."

"Would have been useful information to know a few years ago when I was trying to get the Council to believe that."

Miranda shared a wry grin wit her. "Undoubtedly."

"So," Kaidan said, bringing the focus back to the meeting, "We attack them."

She looked at him and met his unwavering gaze. "Take the fight to them?"

"Why not? They won't see it coming."

"From what I've read of Doctor T'Soni's reports," Miranda interjected, "She suggests no species has made their way through to the Leviathan's lair."

"The element of surprise would be on our side."

Traynor raised her hand. "But only as long as it took to activate the relay. As soon as we use it, they'll know we're coming. Relay alignment. Same way we knew something was amiss during the first invasion."

Riley tapped her fingers against the table and leaned forward. "Unless we plan it _precisely _to coincide with a relay breach. Use the same relay as soon as the Leviathans are through."

That got Admiral Hackett's attention. "How do we do that? We're just managing to stave off breaches as they happen."

"Bait them," Anderson answered for her. She nodded.

"Precisely."

"Bahak system," Kaidan said. "They've attacked that system the most and the batarians have managed to maintain control, but it can't last forever and the Leviathans know that. They'll want Bahak. So if we make it look appetizing.."

"... they'll come," Riley finished for him. "Two points of control."

"I'll get a meeting with the Council, see if we can't get the batarians on board with this," Hackett said.

"I'll write up the report, sir," Kaidan tapped his chin thoughtfully. She could practically see the gears turning in his head as he worked through the details.

"We'll need more Valkyries if we want this to succeed."

"Ah," Anderson interjected, "On that front I have good news. The _Nova Havoc_ has pilots: Major Butler and Lieutenant Vega. Testing more candidates tomorrow for Drift Compatibility for the rest of the Valkyrie fleet that's space worthy. If we can hold out a few more days, we should have seven more ships with pilots."

"Good," Hackett rubbed his chin, "It'll probably take the batarians a couple days to form an agreement, unless their situation is more desperate than they're letting on. Either way, they'll want concessions out of the Council and the Alliance."

"That'll make Udina happy," she muttered. Fortunately only Anderson heard.

"Until then," Hackett continued, unaware of her interruption, "Standard deployment and response. Dismissed."

She jogged to meet up with Kaidan at the door. "Walk with me."

He gave her a weird look but didn't ask any questions until they were halfway down the hall. "Alright Riley, what's on your mind?"

She tapped his pocket where she'd seen him stuff his glasses during the meeting and he retrieved them, holding them out for her to take.

"Engineer's glasses," he said as she held them up to the light, careful to not drop them. "No prescription, Alliance wouldn't allow that. I prefer them over a visor because they fit in my pocket."

She handed them back after peering through them and flushed as she said, "They're also really hot."


	10. Chapter 10

**May 24****th****, 2186  
**It'd taken the batarians and the Council three days to reach an agreement, with the Council growing ever more impatient, muttering that the batarians were holding the safety of the galaxy hostage over insulted egos. But in the end, both sides found common ground.

Partially because Kar'shan had been all but destroyed during a Leviathan attack on the second day of negotiations with three CAT five creatures pouring into the system. At the very least, it proved correct their belief that the Leviathans wanted control of the Alpha relay and saw the batarians as a significant threat to be dealt with.

After that, the batarians had become much more agreeable, relenting on some of their more obtuse demands.

In return, the Council ad reopened their embassy and the batarians were once again members of Council Space.

During that time, she and Kaidan had completed no fewer than five breach runs, testing the limits of the Valkyrie. After the second run, the _Nova Havoc_ had joined them, especially since most attacks now featured at least two Leviathans with an average of three.

As a Jaeger pilot, even one for the Council, she'd never seen this much action. For one, Jeagers were typically limited to their home systems as most of the dreadnoughts that had carried them between systems were destroyed.

She was worn out. Feeling every inch of those five battles, despite the fact that they couldn't be measured in inches.

As such, she'd taken to crashing into her bunk as soon as she finished showering, catching what shut eye and relaxation she could before they received warning of another attack or she was called to a meeting to learn another planet had been lost to the war. Miranda and Traynor's predictions had been all too spot on.

Today, though, there'd been no attack. Not yet but she knew it would come and so she'd stayed in her room.

Kaidan entered without knocking, seating himself at the foot of her bed. She set her book down on the nightstand and sat up, crossing her legs.

"Alright let's hear it."

Kaidan huffed a small laugh, apparently not surprised that she could approximate the reasons for his dramatic entrance because when you Drift with someone long enough, words become almost unnecessary in order to understand each other.

Despite that, Kaidan worked through things by talking. He pressed his hands onto the edge of the bed. "The plan is solid."

"Statement, but yes, it is. As much as it can be, anyway."

And it was. Aside from not knowing what exactly was on the other side and what would be waiting for them, the plan was as good as it could get. It didn't come without its risks, though, and she had a feeling _that_ was what was itching in the back of his mind.

She believed the risks were worth it. Three years of this war and all attempts to negotiate or compromise with the Leviathans had been met with out and out hostility. There was no negotiating, no middle ground that could be reached. No coexisting and that prospect of galactic extinction was frightening. When an enemy cannot be reasoned with, the only solution left is often a drastic one. The one they'd come up with over the past few days, hours spent in lab rooms and conference rooms, talking with specialists from around the Milky Way via QEC, certainly qualified.

Next was the 'pulling it off' part. Something which Riley fully intended to do because, as much as it shocked and made her kick her own ass over it, she'd finally found something worth carrying her _through_ the war and not just with it. Something worth fighting for beyond the right to survive and while she hadn't said as much because she was a damned chicken shit, it didn't mean that Kaidan didn't know because how could he _not_ know when each time they headed out to fight off another attack, those thoughts flooded to the forefront of her mind.

She'd been accused in the past of not being emotional and she supposed Akuze had certainly temepred her outward appearance of vulnerability because after that, the press had hounded her footsteps waiting to see if she'd snap. She learned to keep it in. To lock it down and toss away the key because any expression was cross-examined by no fewer than ten separate news broadcast agencies, looking for a form of weakness. Anything that they could latch onto that would sell.

She didn't like being a commodity for the press so she didn't play.

But the truth was Akuze had wrecked her and if she hadn't had that challenge from the press to keep her ass in line, who knows where she might have ended. The desire to prove herself had been greater than the urge to bury herself, but only just.

Kaidan sighed, swing his legs up onto the bed, and placed his head in her lap. "What if the Leviathans don't bite?"

"They wiped out Kar'shan and sent the batarians scurrying out of the system faster than a salarian thinking on speed. They'll bite."

"Everything we've planned hinges on this one thing being correct: that they're interested in the alpha relay."

Riley leaned back against the headboard thoughtfully. "If I were them, I'd want the alpha relay. More control over the network and _two_ access points to the Citadel, one of which looks legitimate through relay activation. We know they want the Citadel and we know why: because the Citadel controls the entire relay network. But the Citadel is currently too well defended, so we've been picked off and herded for the past three years. Our numbers are smaller, but our defenses better."

"Every time our defenses get better, they come out with a better offensive strategy."

"It'll take them longer than a few days to come up with something to better fight Valkyries," she replied. The urge to smooth the wrinkle in between his brow as he looked up at her was almost too much to resist. "The ground is as even as it's ever gonna be. Striking now makes sense. The longer we wait, the greater the chance they discover we know how to get to them."

"You're so sure," he said. The wrinkle smoothed out on its own, but not entirely.

Was she? She supposed she was. Everything she said was true. The longer they waited to attack increased the chances that the creatures would discover they knew where to find them. It also increased the odds of the Leviathans adapting to counteract the Valkyries and then they'd be back to square one in terms of loss of life and resources. With Omega gone, the consequences of that were more dire than ever.

They had to win this war, and they had to win it soon. Otherwise they might not win it at all.

She ran her fingers over his forehead, smoothing away the rest of the worry lines that seemed permanently etched in his face. "One of us has to be."


	11. Chapter 11

**AN:** Soo, I forgot to push this chapter through last night when uploading everything, haha. Well, here it is: the final chapter. Words of wisdom: don't post when sleep deprived.

"_Ready for the big drop, _Crimson?"

"Locked and ready, Admiral," Riley answered.

"_Dropping the pod in ten,"_ Anderson said. _"Batarians have already sent out the distress signal reporting their planetary defenses as offline. We estimate the Leviathans will strike in less than ten minutes."_

"How's it looking out there?"

"_Eye of the hurricane, Shepard."_

A majority of the Council fleet had amassed in the Bahak system: turians, asari, human, and salarian, coupled with the added firepower of the batarians. While excessive for a Leviathan assault with a beast count of less than four, the majority of the ships weren't there to defend against _just_ those creatures. They were there in case the plan failed. Two asari piloted Valkyries remained behind with the fleet, one piloted by the only asari Spectre he'd ever encountered and, while he respected her, he was also a little terrified of her.

"Good luck, sir."

Kaidan double checked everything one last time, running the numbers twice, ensuring everything checked out. The maintenance crews had worked over time to make sure all the ships were in fighting condition for the final assault, then the Valkyries had been loaded onto a cruiser with a modified hangar deck to accommodate Valkyrie deployment. It had also been hastily outfitted with GARDIAN defense systems, operating with a minimal crew. Just enough to keep the ship running because their plan didn't entail the cruiser coming back.

The conn pod holding mechanism retracted and his stomach lurched into his mouth from the freefall, though it was a much reduced freefall, before connected with the rest of the ship.

EDI flickered to life before them. "Initiating pilot-to-Valkyrie connection."

"Downgrading to standby," Kaidan said as Riley did the same.

Other Valkyries came to life around them forming a small knife fleet that would carry out the brunt of the attack while the cruiser carried out its mission. If there was ever a time to hope for minimal relay transit drift and good conditions on the other side, this was it.

He found Riley's hand in the middle and squeezed.

This was it.

She tugged on his fingers. Her eyes were dark and clear as she looked over at him and he could feel nervousness and adrenaline surging through her, though undoubtedly some of that was him, too. "My timing was always shit."

He grinned, a seed of warmth flaring deep within his soul because even though he could feel it through the bond, actually _hearing_ it was a different beast all together and not something that could ever be diminished. "Yeah, well, I could have said something three years ago."

"We're a pair."

"Drift Compatible."

"_Relay activation in progress!"_

He crushed her fingers between his, refusing to let go until they'd crossed to the other side because for all he knew, this could be the last chance he'd have to hold her, even separated by armor as they were, and he wasn't about to waste that. Her return grip was just as fierce, the same thoughts burning in her mind like a supernova, feeding off his and now he could understand the intensity behind the asari mating ritual and why to date the only asari Jaeger pilots were married couples.

Because feeling the intensity of someone's emotions as they held onto you was enough to shatter the fabric of reality.

The cruiser sat on the 'back' side of the relay along with the _Normandy, _the _Hastings_, and the _Ascalon_, hidden from any potential corridor and ready to go through as soon as the Leviathans appeared, before either relay could return to starting position. The whole plan hinged on hitting that moment precisely right and so the natural choice to man the cruiser which would be calling the shots had been no contest.

The geth had attempted to stay outside of the war, believing the Leviathans to be after organics only. Until Rannoch had been assaulted and the geth suffered a devastating loss of programs before the quarians, of all people, came to their rescue as much for their home planet as to help the geth.

Last he'd heard, the geth and quarians had brokered a peace, if an uneasy one, providing mutual protection for each other because where the quarians had a massive fleet, the geth had superior technology.

"_Shadow team executing maneuver_."

He stared straight ahead as if he could bore through the hull of the cruiser and see beyond. "Ready to see the galactic core?"

"I was thinking I needed a bit more gravity in my life," Riley replied.

Then they were in the corridor, Valkyries confirming combat ready status, gearing up to launch as soon as the small fleet was through.

The tell-tale lurch shifting back into normal space came all too fast yet at the same time it'd felt as their position in the corridor had lasted too long, reminscent of the tail-end of a quiet note, lingering in the wind.

"_Knife squad, prepare for hangar deck depressurization," _the Captain of the cruiser alerted them. He released Riley's hand at last as they geared up the Valkyrie for combat. _"Corridor drift 2300 K and increasing. Compensating against gravitational pull."_

"Normandy_ to knife, your six is covered and you are clear for launch. Bastards didn't see us coming but their fleets are scrambling. I've got seven Leviathans on sensors already on approach. Two CAT fours, four CAT fives, and one CAT six."_

"Alright, squad," Riley broadcast to the fleet, "Terra formation going out. Valkyries break off after tagging your beastie. Alenko and I have the CAT six. Our goal is to prevent the Leviathans from breaching our line and destroying the cruiser before it has a chance to do its job. Frigates will hang back to protect the Cruiser and secure a relay approach vector."

Kaidan inhaled deeply, filling his lungs as the apprehension grew. The moment was almost upon them. They'd laid down their bet and just needed to see if the dice would roll in their favor.

"_Opening hangar bay doors."_

"Let's move, people!"

They extended in their rigs, leaning forward, and propelled their ship out, flying to the forefront of the formation. The _Normandy_ and the _Hastings_ cut across their path, ensuring their departure was unhinded by weapons fire – and then they were out.

The CAT six led the counter-assault, followed by the rest. He could see more exiting from the massive compounds in the distance. Minutes before they arrived, at best.

No time to waste, he and Riley kicked off charing straight for the CAT six as the rest of the Valkyries picked their targets.

"_Detecting an unknown weapon signature,"_ EDI warned. A giant reddish orb brightened on the CAT six and Riley cursed as they pulled the _Crimson_ sharp to port just in the nick of time.

"Disruptor torpedoes!" she shouted through gritted teeth. Target lock achieved and they fired, half of them making it past the Leviathan's defenses and scoring hits.

They didn't see the talon sweeping up beneath until it was too late and it smacked into the hull, throwing him against the constraints of the rig. He bit back a curse and they brought the ship about, recovering from the hit.

"Bringing the javelin online," he said and Riley nodded as they sped around the CAT six, using their speed and its size to their advantage.

He launched a volley as they circled the beast and clipped close to its core, scoring a direct hit that shuddered through its flesh and almost made him want to gag. Maybe if he hadn't seen some of the shit being a marine shined a light on throughout his career, he would have.

"_The CAT fours are down! Converging on approaching CAT fives."_

Riley grunted as they dodged another talon swing, the force of the maneuver thrashing them in their harnesses. "Charging thanix cannon."

It was a direct hit but the CAT six survived, shrugging it off as if the projectile had been made of water and not molten alloys. Its defense systems engaging with the _Crimsons'_ as the GARDIAN fought off incoming attacks. EDI's added processing power improved their GARDIAN countermeasures but fighting against the CAT six still took out two GARDIAN lasers.

"Hull breach, port side, aft!" EDI shouted as the ship rocked from another hit. Kaidan felt the seals around his neck snap into place, switching them to suit air supply. "Engaging kinetic barriers, pressurization contained, but life support is compromised."

They dodged another attack from the gigantic red orb he'd officially labeled the giant laser of death.

"Striker Intercept _requesting back-"_ the comm cut out abruptly and Kaidan swallowed and felt Riley compartmentalize. No time to grieve. Not when they were fighting for their lives and needed to focus all their attention on the battle at hand.

They could grieve for the dead later as they stood over hollow graves.

"_Another CAT six imbound!"_

Riley cursed. "_Normandy_, what's the ETA on the cruiser?"

Sensors showed the second CAT six heading straight for the cruiser.

"_Four minutes, Major. Drift was worse than our initial estimates and we've got of firepower coming our direction, and more Leviathans on the way. GARDIAN defense systems on the _Hastings _were destroyed and the _Ascalon's_ lost power to its thrusters. We really can't take that CAT six headed our way!"_

"Sonofa_bitch_."

"Chargin thanix again," Kaidan said, grunting as a near miss from a torpedo rocked their hull and tossed them in their rigs, "I've got an idea."

Riley looked at him, understanding and surprised.

Crazy Ivan. A move no frigate or warship had been able to pull off to date, but which the engineers on the Valkyrie project had seen fit to integrate into the _Crimson Tactical_. A maneuver they'd only performed _once_ on their test flight nearly a week ago and hadn't done since because it blew through power and while they didn't have a lot of that to spare from damage sustained from fighting the CAT six, they didn't exactly have a choice if they were going to intercept the second inbound.

"Alright," Riley agreed. "Crazy Ivan."

They locked their hands together in front of them, queuing the maneuver protocol as they positioned themselves. Hoping the CAT six would take fall for the feint, not knowing that they could actually pull off something this crazy that only the advent of inertial dampeners allowed for human survival.

The CAT six, turning just as he'd hoped it would to follow their fake getaway, exposing its 'heart'. The spread their arms out and the thrusters reversed, the ship spinning around them and the conn pod rotating to accommodate the new position. Target locked and the CAT six didn't have time to react as the jet of molten metal shot straight through it practically point blank range.

"EDI, confirm kill," Riley breathed next to him.

"I am not detecting any life-signs or cybernetic activity."

They pushed away from the corpse and Kaidan brought up the visual feeds as they swung about, searching for the second CAT six

"_Leviathan has breached the perimeter, heading straight for the cruiser!"_ Joker's shout filted through the comms. _"We're in pursuit, but I don't think we can handle this guy on our own. We need back up!"_

It filled him with no small amount of dread that Joker had sent the distress call and not Simmons, or even the _Normandy's_ XO.

"_Oh god, the CAT six just took out the _Hastings!"

"We're hauling ass, _Normandy," _Kaidan answered. "Closing in on your position now."

They lost another Valkyrie by the time they intercepted the CAT six, tearing it away from the hull of the cruiser.

"_Shepard-Major, the auto-pilot systems of the cruiser were damaged. This vessel will not make it to the relay without manual guidance. We are returning to the ship."_

"No!" Riley shouted. "We can fly her in. EDI, what do you need?"

EDI flared to life. "I am having trouble connecting with the ships systems. The long range communications appear to be damaged."

"Then let's bring her in," Kaidan replied as they dodged another hit from the CAT six and retaliated with disruptor torpedoes.

"Crimson_, we've got your back on this one,"_ Butler said.

True enough, the _Nova Havoc_ intercepted the CAT six, but not before a return blast from the CAT six's main gun shattered the thruster on the port side of the ship.

It wasn't a one-to-one connection like the Jaeger program, but the sudden disconnect to his left leg and the electrical shortage to his neural circuitry suit seared through to his skin, white hot pain screaming through his nervous system, vision fading and he was dimly aware of Riley screaming next to him, the hull of the ship creaking as they took more damage.

"Kaidan!"

He shook his head and stared down at his left leg, unmoving. Part of the armor blackened but his hardsuit didn't read any breaches and he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Kaidan, don't you fucking dare do this to me!"

"I'm here," he breathed, heavily. Medi-gel systems kicking and relieving the pain. "I'm here."

Relief _flooded_ through the Drift, nearly overwhelming him, coupled with fear and tension and burning desire to see this through to the bitter end. Hanging on by a thread with the strength of a krogan warlord because they were gonna win if it was the last thing they did.

"I've established a connection with the cruiser, engaging flight control. ETA to relay impact, one minute. We must maintain control of the vessel to ensure target lock."

"And prevent the Leviathans from taking it out."

"_You let us worry about that, _Crimson,_ your hull is crippled as shit,"_ Butler grunted. He could hear the sounds of their vessel taking hits and giving back in the background before the channel cut out.

Riley opened communications to the whole fleet. "It's time to get the hell out of here, people. One minute until the package hits the relay. Anyone left here is _dead_."

"_Queuing mass relay transit,_" Joker said, _"Just give the word and I'll open a corridor."_

The countdown read fifty-five seconds.

"_More CAT sixes inbound! We've lost _Hurricane Danger_ and _Raging Tide!_"_

They stared at the relay through the cracked viewscreen, eyes fierce and determined. As if they could make it move towards them with the power of their combined will.

Another Valkyrie was lost as the Leviathans closed around them. Clearly aware of the full intent of their plan. Not just some invasion to try and take out as many creatures as they could. _Annihilation_. Because they'd been left with no choice, no option but to partake on a suicide mission to the center of the galaxy and blow the relay.

Forty-five seconds and the _Ascalon_ was destroyed.

"Joker, open-" the CAT six punched through the perimeter, swinging beneath the cruiser, "Shit! Joker, open the corridor and get everyone the hell out of here!"

Kaidan looked at Riley and nodded, eyes grim. Determined. Understanding.

Someone had to stay behind and make sure the cruiser hit the relay or everything they'd done would be for nothing. Another raid like this wouldn't work. They'd be done.

_Nova Havoc_ flew straight into the CAT six before they'd had a chance to take the _Crimson_ around for an assault. "_We can hold them off a hell of a lot better than you can, limping as you are, Shepard!"_

"Butler, what the hell are you doing?"

Thirty seconds.

"_Clearing a path for you, what the fuck else does it look like? One hit from the CAT six, and you're done. We can take the hits. You can't. Now _go!"

They locked eyes as Riley said, "Godspeed."

The rest of the fleet had already retreated. It was just them, the cruiser, and about a dozen Leviathans. He grasped Riley's hand as she bore the majority of their run to the relay, dodging whatever incoming projectiles the GARDIANs missed, a few of them connecting and more systems blew out, hoping that the ship was intact enough to survive transit. He focused on javelin fire, trying to keep the path clear while the _Nova_ kept the cruiser safe just long enough to ensure impact.

They hit the relay with five seconds to spare on the countdown, the hull shaking and their seats tossing around. Never releasing her hand because they'd made it, even if that had come at a cost. Holding onto her because she was his anchor.

When they made it to the other side, unbelievably intact, still breathing, still _whole_ against all odds because their structural integrity was way below standard parameters, they both heaved a sigh of relief. Their death grip on each other settling into something more comforting.

"_Crimson,"_ Anderson's voice filtered over the comm, and Riley laughed the kind of laugh you only hear when someone feels truly_ alive_, _"status?"_

"Mission accomplished, sir."

She would have said more, wanted to say more, and he could feel it through the bond, but the sound of cheering and whooping flooded the comm.

They'd won.

Kaidan returned his gaze to Riley. "EDI, can you fly us in?"

"Yes. Disconnecting pilot-to-Valkyrie protocols."

He stepped out of his rig, disconnecting from the Drift as well. It was time to celebrate.


End file.
